


Sanctuary

by Fatespeaker



Series: Wings of Fire: Changing Seasons [4]
Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Family, Family Drama, Friendship, Gen, IceWings (Wings of Fire), Winter Finally Gets His Life Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28489206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fatespeaker/pseuds/Fatespeaker
Summary: Winter, Hailstorm, and Icicle were never exactly a happy family. Now, after escaping the IceWing Palace and (accidentally) kicking off a violent rebellion, the three of them must seek refuge in Sanctuary. With the help of Winter's friends, they've found some semblance of safety, but each of the siblings holds a storm of conflict inside. Icicle feels bitter and lost without her tribe, Hailstorm is torn by his painful past, and Winter must work to hold everything together as his family, tribe, and heart are shaken.Fortunately, the strange town of Sanctuary is just the place for such a messy trio to recover. Follow each one as they confront their inner turmoil, forge new friendships, let go of old anguish, and discover the magical new world of Sanctuary.(Sequel to Winter Rose/Winter Returning!)
Series: Wings of Fire: Changing Seasons [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852768
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	1. The Song of the Outcast

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a sequel to my last one, Winter Rose. It wraps up some loose ends, and will finally explore Icicle and Hailstorm’s sides of the story! I guess you could read it by itself, but I strongly recommend reading my fics Winter Returning and Winter Rose first, because this one continues the same story.

Icicle hated Sanctuary.

She hated the weird dragons that filled the town, speaking with weird accents and eating even weirder food. She hated the hot weather, which made her feel like her scales were melting off. She hated the hovel that the Talons of Peace had shoved them into, this ugly little thing made out of clay bricks that seemed no better than the cell she had just escaped from.

Most of all, she hated breakfast. That was always the worst part of the day, because Winter and Hailstorm would go out to the market, usually with one of their obnoxious friends from another tribe, and come back to try to make her eat the disgusting things that Sanctuary's uncivilized rabble cooked up.

How could any IceWing ever live here?

Today her brothers were torturing her with some kind of SkyWing kebab. It looked absolutely inedible: burnt, blackened meat shoved crudely onto a stick and flavored with cheap spices. They didn't even have plates. It just sat there on the ugly wooden table, three lumpy sticks of nastiness.

"I am _not_ eating that," Icicle growled. "It's _burnt_."

"No," Hailstorm replied patiently, tearing a chunk of it apart to show her the unburnt inside, "it's cooked. SkyWings eat like this all the time."

Winter just rolled his eyes and took a bite of his kebab. He rarely said anything to her.

 _Whatever._ Icicle didn't need his traitorous conversation. It was bad enough being trapped in this barbaric place and eating a barbaric breakfast. Just looking at her infamous younger brother brought back all the bad memories of how she had gotten here.

But Hailstorm... Icicle had always looked up to him. Hailstorm was her _real_ brother, a loyal IceWing. Now he, too, wanted her to start forsaking their tribe? Her world really had gone mad.

"I am not a SkyWing!" she defiantly reminded Hailstorm. "And neither are you!"

The air seemed to freeze between them as Hailstorm recoiled, hurt and rage flashing in his blue eyes. Far too late, Icicle remembered what he had gone through during the war, how he had been, quite literally, forced to become a SkyWing. _Three moons, I completely forgot._

Winter spat out his meat and glared at her, his tail lashing. "How dare you -"

"Never mind that," Hailstorm cut in, quickly calming himself. "If she wants to starve herself, that's her prerogative." Then he turned to her. "Icicle, will you just give it a chance? It's actually quite good - far more flavorful than IceWing food."

Icicle's stomach turned. Suddenly she felt too nauseous to eat anything, let alone this _flavorful_ trash. "I am ill," she haughtily declared. She fluttered her wings and raised her chin to speak like a proper IceWing princess. "Excuse me. I am off to my rooms."

Grabbing her kebab for himself, Winter muttered under his breath, "Spoiled little..."

For once, Icicle felt too sick and distressed to hurl an insult back at him. She merely glared, then bowed to them both (as a proper IceWing princess would) and retreated back to her horrible little room. Her belly growled as she went. In the back of her mind, she wondered if maybe, just maybe, it was hunger rather than gross SkyWing food that had made her feel so sick. She froze that thought off quickly.

Unfortunately, their tiny home, which had probably been built by MudWing refugees during the war, was so small that she could hear everything. Nothing but a ragged curtain, made out of an old SandWing tapestry, separated her supposedly private chamber from the main room, so of course Winter and Hailstorm's voices carried in to bother her, following her like the wicked northern winds.

"She needs time to recover," said Hailstorm. His lowered voice was muffled by her ugly makeshift door. At least he _tried_ to give her privacy.

" _She_ needs time?" Winter snapped back loudly. "What about our recovery? We just risked our lives to get her out of there. Three moons, our whole kingdom could fall apart because of this. Because of _her_!"

"I'm sure she knows that," Hailstorm replied.

Icicle sighed and moved to the farthest side of her room. He was right. She _did_ know that. And she hated it.

* * *

That night, after a mind-numbingly long day of staying in her room, which baked like an oven during the hot afternoon, Icicle hoped for some respite in her sleep.

Obviously, her mind had other plans. She was plunged into a familiar dream. A memory. It had haunted her all her life, but now, for some reason, it was coming back in vivid colors...

_Her mother was standing by the window. Outside, the winter sky was surprisingly clear. Tundra's severe eyes, always so sharp and cold, seemed to soften just a bit in the moonlight._

_Winter was already sleeping, snoring like a stupid seal at Icicle's side. He never stayed up late like her. So he never found out that their mother came to check on them sometimes. He never got to hear her whispered stories, those legends from the ancient age of magic and ice._

_No wonder he turned out all rotten._

_"Mother," begged Icicle in a small voice, "Mother, please tell me story."_

_Tundra hesitated, muttering that Icicle was growing too old for fables, that it was time to focus on being a proper IceWing princess._

_But then she gave in. Tundra always relented. No matter how cold or snappy she seemed, she always gave Icicle a story. That was how Icicle knew that her mother cared. In some quiet, IceWing way, she cared._

_"Well," said Tundra, settling down and spreading her wings over Icicle, "have I told you about the Great Glaciers, where the animus heroes would slumber for centuries?"_

_The story went on, an ancient legend passed down through the ages, whispered from mother to daughter again and again. It was a cautionary tale, as most IceWing stories were, about how ten princesses from the Age of Magic sealed themselves away until the New Age. They emerged, unscathed, every scale intact, but they were... different. Cold and changed. The ice took as much as it gave. Each princess had sacrificed ten years of her life and ten pieces of her soul._

_Because there was always a price. A curse for every blessing. Even magic must abide by the strict rules of the world._

_Icicle had come to expect harsh endings for her bedtime stories. This one was no different, but Icicle was surprised to find a faint hint of hope. For though nine of the ten princesses went mad without their souls, the tenth was strong and disciplined enough to stay sane. She was the one who retook the IceWing throne after the Scorching, who ruled as the Twice-Hatched Queen, and who passed her sacred animus powers down to every IceWing queen up until the Tragedy of Queen Diamond._

_"So," asked Tundra, once the story was done and Icicle was half-asleep, "would you have chosen the ice?"_

_A pop quiz. Of course. Everything, including this simple bedtime story, was a test for Icicle._

_Icicle gulped. She knew the right answer, but it froze like bad frost in her throat. "I... I think so."_

_Tundra snorted and shook her head. "You're an IceWing, aren't you? Noble and brave. Of course you would have made the right choice." She smiled a small, reserved smile. Even in private, a proper, polite IceWing could not show too much emotion. Love, like magic, led to madness. "Good night, then, Icicle. And well done, on that hunting exam yesterday."_

_Icicle was glad that her mother believed in her, but then, once Tundra had left, the doubt began to creep in. Fear seeped across Icicle's heart, cold and cruel. What if she_ wasn't _a worthy IceWing? What if she couldn't win enough battles, stay in the right circles, and master all the right manners? What if, one day, she failed their family?_

_"I'm an IceWing, noble and brave," she whispered to herself in the darkness. "An IceWing, an IceWing, an IceWing..."_

_Always a price._

_Then the dream changed, the sweet memory vanished, and she was plunged into a nightmare of darkness._

_She was back in the dungeons, in that hopeless, endless, lightless maze of tunnels buried deep in the freezing earth. And no matter how long she fumbled on through the darkness, she could not remember the way out. And the tunnels were closing in on her, pinning her wings to her back and forcing her to crawl. She dragged herself onward even as the ice crushed her, desperately searching for an escape, for a glimmer of light, for something, anything, to guide her._

_Then she realized there simply was no exit. No way out. No hope for rescue or rebirth. She was going to die in the ice._

_A voice echoed through the lonely darkness as she gave in to the horrible truth._ _"You're an IceWing, aren't you?" it taunted. Was it Tundra's? Winter's? Hailstorm's Perhaps her own, echoing back at her? "Aren't you? Aren't you?"_

* * *

Icicle sprang up from her sleeping corner, her wings fluttering nervously. The darkness seemed to press in, suffocating her just like in the dream, until she finally tamed her nerves and regained her dignified sense of calm.

She had dreamed _it_ again. Every night, the same memory and nightmare would come. They had followed her here from the IceWing dungeons, and unlike that prison, there was no way for her to escape this.

Well, perhaps there was one way. _I just won't go back to sleep!_ she decided. Childish and silly as that plan seemed, she couldn't think of anything better.

Her scales still crawling with leftover fear, Icicle slipped out of the house and tried to find some peace in the darkness outside. Even from here, at the outskirts of the town, she could hear the sounds of Sanctuary. Dragons of all kinds, laughing and shouting and _living_ loudly through the night. No more serene silence, like the strictly-enforced quiet hours of the IceWing palace. Just endless, foreign noise.

Though Icicle had to admit, she _was_ getting used to it.

"Hey."

Icicle turned at the sound of a familiar voice. She wasn't too surprised by who she found there - both of them seemed to have inherited the same insomnia.

"Hello, Hailstorm," she said, nodding formally.

The sharp, white angles of Hailstorm's snout, which Narwhal had passed to all three of his children, were particularly noticeable in the moonlight. He looked so much older now. Icicle wondered if she, too seemed gaunt and tired in this light.

"It's nice out tonight," Hailstorm muttered. " _Almost_ a bearable temperature."

Icicle shrugged, Hailstorm sat down, and they were both quiet for a while. It was pleasant, just sitting there with all their problems frozen away and the strange stars staring down. Icicle was a bit startled when Hailstorm finally broke the silence.

"One of Winter's friends stopped by today," he told her. "Fatespeaker, that NightWing from Jade Mountain."

Icicle scowled. She had heard them all talking from her room, though of course she had not come out. Knowing that a NightWing had been in their home, probably less than a wing's length away from her own room, sickened Icicle. _How could they bring the enemy into our own home? Idiots!_

"Is that the one Winter was madly in love with?" she spat back.

Hailstorm winced. "Three moons, that rumor sure got around. But no. No, that was Moonwatcher."

Icicle groaned. "He's friends with _two_ NightWings?"

"Icicle." Hailstorm paused, his talons scratching sharp lines into the hot, sandy dirt. "Icicle, listen to me. We're fugitives now. All of us. And honestly, I..." He sighed. Frost flew from his snout. "I'm uncomfortable here, too. But we all have to make sacrifices. That's our duty now."

"How can you say that?" Icicle cried, her voice ragged with a suppressed sob. Inside, she cursed herself for showing such weakness. "We may have betrayed Queen Snowfall -" _Who wanted to torture you to death_ , her pesky conscious reminded her. "- but that doesn't mean we can stop being IceWings!"

Hailstorm was silent for a while.

"There's this festival coming up," he finally said, completely off-topic, "some kind of SandWing holiday. Fatespeaker convinced us to come check it out." He took a deep breath and added, "I think you should come too."

"I can't," Icicle pointed out. "I'm in hiding, remember?"

In addition to the fact that she hated Sanctuary, there was another reason why Icicle could never go outside. Unlike Hailstorm and Winter, who the Talons of Peace had been able to offer their official protection to, Icicle wasn't exactly a heroic rebel. She was wanted for far worse crimes, and so, even though Riptide and some other Talons had allowed her to hide with her brothers, everyone involved had been sworn to secrecy. After all, it wouldn't fit the Talons' image as a "neutral peace group" if they publicly admitted to helping her.

It brought her some solace to know that, as much as she hated the Talons of Peace, they probably hated her even more.

"It'll be all right," Hailstorm promised her. "There are more IceWings here now that all those rebels flew in for political asylum. If you're in disguise, no one will notice you." He smiled. "Don't you want to get out and stretch your wings?"

Icicle frowned and shuffled her wings, which were stiff from days and days of disuse.

 _Say no!_ screamed the loyal IceWing side of her. _You're an IceWing, noble and brave. You will_ never _consort with SandWings!_

Then she looked at Hailstorm, and thought about all the noble and brave things he had done, and remembered that dark night in the dungeons when he was her last scrap of hope.

It _would_ feel good to finally stretch her wings again, wouldn't it?

"I'll think about it," she replied.

He shrugged and returned to his room, saying nothing, leaving her alone with the stars and the heat and the endless noise of Sanctuary.

* * *

Next morning's breakfast was interesting. Icicle had intended to mope around and skip the meal altogether, but her ridiculous brothers clearly had other plans.

"Behold, a surprise!" exclaimed Hailstorm, practically dragging Icicle out to the table.

Still blinking sleep from her eyes, Icicle groaned. It seemed that _both_ of her brothers were now insane.

"Hailstorm!" cried a chipper, oddly-familiar voice. "You're supposed to just shout 'Surprise!'. And we were supposed to hide under the table first. That's how you do a surprise party."

Icicle whipped around, her spiked tail raised defensively, her frostbreath ready to shoot. _That NightWing!_

Sure enough, it was her: the same NightWing who had visited earlier, who knew Icicle from those awful days in Jade Mountain Academy, and who probably hated Icicle's guts. Icicle would certainly hate the guts of any dragon who had messed up as badly as she had at Jade Mountain.

"Oh, um, good morning, Icicle," squeaked Fatespeaker, shrinking back. "It's... it's been a long time, huh? I, uh, I foresee that we'll... have a lovely day today."

Feeling betrayed, Icicle turned to Hailstorm and Winter. "You let _her_ back in here?" she snarled. "Don't you remember what happened at that school?"

"Yes," murmured Fatespeaker, a hint of fire flashing in her big, purple eyes, "yes, I remember when you tried to murder my boyfriend."

 _She's dating Starflight? That dragonet of destiny? No, no, no! This is even worse!_ The ugly clay walls seemed to close in on Icicle. She was trapped. This had to be some kind of attack. Her own brothers, leading an old enemy here to kill her! Of course they had betrayed her. Icicle flared her wings, preparing to fight.

To Icicle's surprise, Fatespeaker stepped back and let her own wings fall in a gesture of surrender. "But I believe in forgiveness," she said, smiling an obnoxiously hopeful smile. "And friendship, and second chances! I know you're a good dragon, Icicle. Your brothers and I can help you fly forward now."

"Don't tell me you _predicted_ that?" growled Icicle. She started to relax, realizing that Fatespeaker was harmless. Annoying, but harmless. Most of Winter's weird friends were like that.

Fatespeaker laughed. That melted away most of the tension. "Nope. I just want to help."

"Now," said Hailstorm, nodding toward the table, "shall we get back to our proper IceWing breakfast?"

Icicle finally turned her attention to the table, where Winter, with his usual silent rudeness, had already sat down. There, waiting on _real plates_... was _food_. Real food! Raw meat, frosted with ice, and sliced into the luxurious little pieces that upper class IceWings enjoyed. There was even a little bowl of crushed ice in the middle, which IceWings crunched on instead of drinking during meals.

Already dazed from the whole meeting with Fatespeaker, Icicle drifted over as if in a dream. "How...?"

"We know the food of Sanctuary... greatly displeases you," Hailstorm explained, laying his old First Circle accent on thick now, "so we tried to make something you'd like this time."

"And now you can stop being such a brat about it," Winter growled, crass as ever.

Icicle glared, but a combination of Hailstorm's exhausted sigh and her own excitement stopped her from picking a fight with Winter. Maybe they were really trying to make peace.

She tried to imagine herself back in the beautiful dining halls of the palace. She sat down, carefully folding her wings and keeping her claws and tail in proper dining position. She was pleased to see her brothers do likewise. Winter's manners were rusty, of course. Even Fatespeaker tried to follow along, though her uncivilized NightWing habits showed whenever she reached across the table or let her tail twitch as she ate.

"So," Hailstorm said carefully once everyone had finished their food, "Icicle, will you come with us to the Sun Festival?"

"Check this out!" Fatespeaker cut in before Icicle could respond.

Icicle scowled. _Typical NightWing. No manners at all._

"You're gonna love this," chirped Fatespeaker, pulling a bunch of brightly-colored objects from her bag. She held two of them up to show everyone. They were SandWing-style wooden masks, carved to look like desert animals. "During the parade, everyone wears masks! Plus, there are tons of IceWings participating this year, since the SandWings love sharing their traditions. Icicle will be perfectly hidden!"

 _Hiding like some filthy spy, and behind one of the SandWings' crude masks!_ Icicle wanted to melt out of shame. She looked to Hailstorm, hoping he would be as aghast as her, but he just nodded back expectantly.

Then, to Icicle's shock, Hailstorm took one of the masks from Fatespeaker. "I'll take this one, if you don't mind," he said, holding it over his snout. It was a snake, painted with a diamond pattern, the carved tongue covered in sparkles. How gaudy.

 _Sacrifices._ Hailstorm's words returned in her thoughts. _That's our duty now._

She glanced at Winter, who was still glaring glumly down at his plate. Her brothers had given up quite a lot for her. The least she could do was go make fun of some SandWings with them. She nodded and took one of the masks from Fatespeaker. "All right," she said primly, "I will come."

"Really? Great!" Fatespeaker cheered. She tied her own mask on, transforming herself into some sort of hummingbird with distressingly bright purple feathers.

Icicle stared down at the mask that she now had in her own talons. It was a big-eared fox with a ridiculous grin on its snout. Icicle reluctantly held it up to her face, hiding her own scowl with its horrible, smiling face. No turning back now; she had made her choice.

* * *

The moment they landed in the town square, Icicle regretted that choice.

There were SandWings _everywhere_. SkyWings and MudWings too. Most shockingly, there were other IceWings. IceWings, wearing SandWings masks and singing SandWing songs and even (three moons!) dancing with other tribes! Icicle tried to look away in shame, but it seemed like everywhere she turned, there was another IceWing enjoying the festival.

Woven flags hung from everyone's windows, all emblazoned with strange SandWing symbols like suns and spirals. Music blared loud and proud as random bands played their liveliest songs. Icicle pressed close to Hailstorm as their group headed into the madness. She was glad her mask hid her horrified expression, which would have been very uncouth.

Winter, now wearing an owl mask that made him look hilariously cutesy, seemed a bit distracted as they strolled through the crowd. He eventually whispered something to Hailstorm, then disappeared down one of the busiest streets.

"Where's he off to?" Icicle asked, annoyed. _He doesn't even have the decency to stay where I can bite him._

"He spotted some other friends," said Hailstorm. Obviously wanting to distract her, he pointed out some popular street vendors. "Why don't we check those out?"

Icicle craned her neck, trying to see which traitors her other brother had slithered off with. She caught two glimpses of black and golden scales. _Is that the NightWing he used to moon over? Disgusting! And could that be the SandWing he met at Jade Mountain? What are they plotting now?_

Fatespeaker tapped Icicle's wing, startling her. "Icicle, look!" laughed the NightWing.

A parade of masked, painted, and ridiculously loud dragons came traipsing through the square. Musicians flew overhead, plucking at their instruments as they danced in the sky. Brightly colored banners whirled as the parade-dragons sang and danced their way through Sanctuary, and cheering onlookers threw flower petals and dried leaves at them.

It was some sort of barbaric ritual - the kind of old-fashioned amusement that a civilized IceWing would never indulge in. And yet Icicle could see IceWings (as well as SkyWings, MudWings, and even a few NightWings and SeaWings) happily joining in. They were all laughing and dancing. They were all having _fun_.

Icicle sniffed. "It is... chaotic," she said, "but fascinating."

"Fascinating?" Fatespeaker laughed. "It's _fantastic_!"

"How can they organize at all? The route? The plans?" Icicle wondered aloud. A burst of loud music startled her as a new group of dancers pushed through the crowd. Icicle backed away, bumping into Hailstorm. "There are rabble rousers everywhere!" she cried. _How crude!_ And yet... everyone seemed to enjoy it.

"They don't plan it, Icicle," Fatespeaker replied. "They just have fun."

Icicle stuck her snout up. "That's anarchy."

"It's a _party_." Fatespeaker flapped her wings, dancing along, and teasingly poked Icicle with her tail.

The music swelled, some song about "flying to the sun" that every SandWing seemed to know the words to. Even the dragons who didn't know it were shaking their tails and fluttering their wings, learning from the colorfully-costumed parade.

It was the exact opposite of the strict, mannered court dances that Icicle had learned in the Ice Kingdom. These dragons didn't care about sticking to the steps or demonstrating their perfect poise. Most of them seemed too drunk to do that! All of Sanctuary was singing and shouting and laughing, with not a scale of respect for rank or etiquette. Disgraceful. Degenerate. Unbelievable.

 _And yet... and yet..._ sang a little voice in the back of Icicle's head. _And yet they all seem so_ happy _. Why?_ The question burned itself into her head. That, along with the pounding of the drums and the blur of bright colors and the (admittedly delicious) smells of a million new foods, made her feel incredibly dizzy. She leaned on Hailstorm's wing, and the madness washed over her.

It was all so wrong, so crazy, _and yet_... there was something wonderful about it too. _No, no, no, that can't be._ Icicle felt as if she were cracking apart, as if after centuries of darkness, she had been thrown out into a blinding light. Her whole world had been turned upside down.

Or was it finally right-side-up?

Hailstorm was starting to look overwhelmed as well, but when Icicle caught his eye, he forced on a smile and said, "Hey, why don't we try it out?"

Icicle's senses returned. She frowned, scandalized. "What in the winds do you mean?"

"He means, let's dance!" cried Fatespeaker. She spread her starry wings out wide and ushered them toward the nearest circle of dancers.

Hailstorm's eyes widened. "Well, I -"

Before Hailstorm could take back what he said, Fatespeaker had unfurled her wings and shoved both of them into the circle.

Initially, Icicle absolutely refused to dance. She held her wings tight to her sides, kept her talons stiff and straight, and ignored the infectious beat of the desert drums. Dancers shoved her to and fro, and Fatespeaker had the nerve to _nudge_ her! What was it about this stupid dance that made all the simple dragons go wild? What was Icicle missing?

 _Well,_ she decided disdainfully, _I might as well learn the steps._ When the catchy chorus began, Icicle half-heartedly shuffled along, grateful that she had a mask to hide her embarrassed scowl.

She looked over to Hailstorm again, and was surprised to see him shimmying like a bonafide barbarian. She _should_ have been angry about that, but she wasn't. All she felt was an odd sense of relief; her sad, quiet older brother was finally happy about something.

Icicle finally decided to give the dance a real go. She watched the SandWing in beside her, trying to follow his movements. She flung her wings out on the wrong beat, smacking both Hailstorm and Fatespeaker in the snouts, and tripped over her own talons as she tried to get back into the rhythm. Someone stepped on her tail, and her mask came loose as she stumbled away. She danced on despite it all, because she suddenly felt the need to learn these steps.

It was all so ridiculous, but wonderful too. Icicle found herself laughing. Laughing! Hailstorm was laughing, too, and of course Fatespeaker looked like she was having the time of her life. As Icicle stifled her uncouth little giggle, she realized that she was actually enjoying this. She smiled, letting the music hum through her scales, and forgot why she had been so against it in the first place.

When the song ended, Icicle was oddly glad to have been a part of it all, to have learned something new. Not just glad... she felt almost giddy. Her heart hammered and the rhythm filled her and she was no longer offended or ashamed. She spread her wings wide and laughed. When the next song began, she threw herself into the dance.

* * *

As night fell, Fatespeaker offered to go fetch them some food, leaving Hailstorm and Icicle to explore the less hectic parts of town on their own. While the main market square continued its wild party, the SkyWing-influenced streets and squares of downtown Sanctuary had slowed down to a more civilized sort of celebration.

Icicle could now easily make her way through town in the dark. Her night vision had sharpened, for she no longer had fancy Moon Globes to light her way (and she absolutely refused to use those burning torches that SkyWings had invented). Yet another reminder of how much things had changed.

She and Hailstorm wandered for a while, staring at all the strange masks and flags. Then the soft peals of a strange song drew her attention to one of the stages that had been set up in a square. A red SkyWing was singing a song that filled the darkness with beautiful, broken sorrow.

_I am lost in a dark sky  
_ _Fly me home, fly me home  
_ _The forests burn and the mountains cry  
_ _Fly me home, fly me home  
_

Despite the foreign sound of the bands' stringed instruments and the singer's distinctly SkyWing lilt, an odd sense of familiarity drew Icicle into the song. She looked to Hailstorm, expecting some reassuring disdain. She was surprised to see that his eyes were wide and his wings were trembling.

"Those SkyWings," she asked, "what are they singing about?"

Hailstorm breathed in sharply. "It's the Song of the Outcast. A war ballad. Refugees sang it during the SandWing war." His voice became heavy. He gulped. "I heard it once, back when... back in the Sky Kingdom."

"Oh." Icicle nodded. She didn't know those SkyWings' story - before today, she would have seen them only as enemies. But she _did_ know the scars of war and the pain of losing her tribe. Something about that melody had touched her soul. It was as if, in the music of strangers, she had found a mirror, reflecting an undiscovered part of herself. A piece of her heart that needed to heal, singing to her with a foreign tune.

 _Impossible._ Her mind raced, trying to deny it. _You're an IceWing! They're SkyWings! Different as night and day. But that song, that pain... Could they really understand?_

"We're all outcasts here," Hailstorm said. "SkyWings, SandWings, MudWings." He fixed her with a piercing stare. "IceWings too. There's more to these dragons than their kingdoms, Icicle. And there's more to _our_ culture than the circles and palaces."

He nodded toward another makeshift stage, where two strangers were sharing a romantic duet. It was an IceWing and a MudWing, both wearing SandWing masks and singing a SkyWing song.

Everything in Icicle's head, all the rules she ever had been taught, told her that such a sight was wrong. But now, confronted with the beauty and compassion and hope of their song, she could not bring herself to condemn it. Something in her cold heart cracked. _I am lost in a dark sky. Fly me home, fly me home._

She sucked in a deep breath, composed herself, and tried to stand tall like a proper IceWing princess. She couldn't. "I..." She gazed back at Hailstorm. Her mask obscured her expression, but could not hide her wavering voice. "I never thought of it like that."

"Neither did I," he said with sigh, "until I came here."

* * *

They met back up with Fatespeaker for dinner. "I'm sorry," Fatespeaker said sheepishly, stepping away from Icicle, "but there was no IceWing food! Just SandWing and SkyWing stuff." She opened her greasy sack, revealing some SkyWing-style kebabs and a weird fried food that Icicle had seen many SandWings snacking on. Fatespeaker passed one of the kebabs to Hailstorm, and Icicle's stomach growled most improperly.

"Could I..." Icicle gulped, steeling herself. "May I try one, please?"

Fatespeaker blinked. "Uh, sure. Here you go." She gave Icicle one of the kebabs. "Don't worry, they're super cheap."

Icicle closed her eyes and bit into the terrifyingly charred kebab, and maybe she was just hungry, or maybe the dancing had tired her out, or maybe the gentle grief of the Song of the Outcasts had finally convinced her to try something new...

But it was _delicious_.

"Well?" asked Hailstorm. "Do you like it?"

"It will do." Icicle nodded, resisting the urge to devour the rest like a starving polar bear. "Not burnt at all."

Fatespeaker laughed, and Hailstorm grumbled, "I told you so."

Icicle took another bite, savoring the strange, new flavors. _It will certainly do._

* * *

Hailstorm soon went off to find Winter, leaving Icicle and Fatespeaker to head home together. Hailstorm was clearly worried that his sister would finally snap and kill their NightWing friend, so Icicle assured him, "I am far too tired to assassinate her now."

Fatespeaker managed a weak, frightened laugh.

Dancing had tired out both of their wings, so they wordlessly, unanimously decided to walk. Icicle was oddly grateful for the chance to savor just a bit more of the festival.

She was surprised by Fatespeaker's silence as they stumbled on through Sanctuary. She had expected to have her ears chatted off with gossip, or at least a couple fake prophecies. Maybe the NightWing had just eaten too many kebabs.

"Why are you really helping us?" Icicle finally asked her as they headed into the darker, quieter outskirts of the town.

"What do you mean?" Fatespeaker frowned. "I really do think you're good, and I really did predict this would be a fun day." She smiled rather forcefully. "My prophecy powers..."

Icicle glared.

"I also come from the NightWings," Fatespeaker added softly. "So I know a thing or two about having a cruddy tribe. You know what we did in the war. And what a lot of us did when Darkstalker came back." She winced. "In wars like that... no tribe is innocent. Sometimes it seems like no dragon is innocent." She smiled a small, sad smile, the kind that Icicle had seen on a lot of grieving IceWings. "But I've also seen proof that dragons can be good. That they can change. The NightWings have turned over a new leaf now. If my tribe can change, so can yours."

"NightWings and IceWings," muttered Icicle. "We're opposites -"

"No," Fatespeaker cut in, surprisingly fierce. "We're just _dragons_. We're all bad, and we're all good. We're not as different as we think." She spread her shimmering wings. "Just look at Sanctuary!"

 _Sanctuary._ This town sure did prove a lot of things wrong.

"So what do you think of this revolution?" Icicle's heart raced just to speak of such things. "I've heard my brothers whispering about it. I know what's going on. Do you think the IceWings should rebel against their own queen? Is _that_ how we're supposed to change?"

Fatespeaker tilted her head thoughtfully. "I really don't know. I don't know enough about your tribe to try and judge. You guys sure know how to keep your secrets." She let out a weary laugh. "All I know from what happened to _my_ tribe is that these things are super complicated. There's never an easy solution." Her sparkly wings drooped as she added in a murmur, "Never a peaceful one."

Icicle nodded. That was an honest answer. "I don't know either," she admitted.

"I wish I had a prophecy for you," Fatespeaker said sincerely. "But I don't. Not this time. Sorry."

* * *

There were no nightmares that night. Perhaps it was a sign. Or, perhaps, Icicle was just exhausted to the bone from a day of dancing and drinking and being scandalized.

Either way, she was grateful for it, and by the next morning, she knew what she had to do. Yesterday's madness had dropped a new idea into her head. And, ridiculous as it was, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was, somehow, her duty to follow through.

So she dragged herself out of her room, plopped herself down at their sad little table, and said to her sour-faced brother, "Winter, we need to talk."

Winter glared up at her coldly. He had some news scroll in his claws, apparently authored by Fatespeaker. How busy _was_ that chatty little NightWing?

"I told you," Winter growled after rolling up the scroll, "we do _not_ eat scavengers here. If you want to go outside and -"

"It's not about that." Icicle thwacked her tail on the ground. "It's about our plans. And your _revolution_. I have an idea."

"Oh." Winter looked away, suddenly very interested in the cracks in their walls.

"I don't want to hide here anymore," she said. "I want to go back to the Ice Kingdom."

"Icicle..." Winter started.

"I want to see the provinces," Icicle went on. She felt a cold rush of determination. A sudden sense of purpose. "To live with the common dragons. To learn about them."

That had been their original plan, before Winter's crazy friends had accidentally kicked off a revolution and the Talons of Peace had decided they were corrupt enough to hide Icicle here. At first, Icicle had been horrified at the thought of living among the "peasant scum" of her tribe. But now, after that conversation with Fatespeaker, and after all the strange new things she had seen in Sanctuary, she was starting to like the idea. There was more to the world than what she had seen in her tiny, privileged Circle. She needed to learn.

Winter frowned, perplexed. "Really? _You_ want to live with the commoners?"

"Yes." Icicle stuck her snout up. "It has come to my attention that our old way of life, as royal IceWings, was..." She gulped. "Wrong. The Ice Kingdom is going through great changes now, and if we are to do anything about it, if we are to make things better, we _must_ learn about the rest of the kingdom."

Winter shook his head. "I don't think you understand. It's brutal out there. It's a different world."

"I know," she replied. "I'm ready to see it. I want to know the truth about our tribe."

"If you're caught out there," he reminded her, "they won't show any mercy. There's a bounty on our heads now. On _your_ head, specifically. If your cover is blown -"

Beheading would be the most merciful sentence. Knowing Snowfall, it would probably be much worse.

But Icicle was well aware of that. Like any smart IceWing, she had assessed the risks. "I'm ready," she said.

Winter grew very quiet.

Then, turning away, he muttered, "That legend you told me, back when I broke you out of the dungeons." The icy anger had melted out of his voice, leaving only sad confusion. And when he met her gaze again, for once she saw no malice in his eyes. "Why _that_ story?" he asked "Why then?"

Icicle herself hadn't been sure at first. It had just been the first thing that popped into her head. All that time in the darkness had done a number on her sanity, reminding her of old nightmares. But now a new, hopeful meaning was solidifying in her heart. It froze there like a great glacier. Not the moral that Tundra had wanted to teach her, all those years ago - this was something she had figured out for herself. _And maybe_ , she thought, _it's time for me to figure out my own values. To retell the stories my way._

Maybe that was what a _real_ noble and brave IceWing (though perhaps not a proper princess) would do.

"You broke me out of the ice," she explained, "freed me like one of those ancient animuses. Now I have a second chance, if I give up my old life. If I let that die. And I think that's what I want now. I want... I want to learn. To change. That's my duty now. That's how I can help the IceWings. And I want to accept it. I'm ready to go out and live again."

Winter nodded. "All right." His talons tapped as he thought. "I have an old friend out in the provinces. I'll write to her. Then we'll... we'll see what we can do." He flashed an amused look. "I hope you like seal jerky."

For the first time in a while, Icicle smiled. "Thank you."

Winter smiled back, so briefly and slightly that Icicle almost missed it, and the cold resentment thawed between them, briefly and slightly, letting in a warm promise of something new.

* * *

Even without her haunting dreams, Icicle still couldn't sleep. She headed outside, into the peaceful darkness. Sanctuary was noisy as ever, but she had come to understand that noise. Maybe she even liked it.

She thought about the past she had left behind. Glimmering and uniform. Silent and lifeless. The endless etiquette. The perfect palace. Maybe she didn't miss that anymore.

She thought about the future, too, this terrifying and unknown adventure that now stretched before her. This new world of possibility. Maybe she was ready for it.

Then, as her heart raced with those troubles, she stared out at the city and thought about all its oddities, about the festival, about the music and food and colors and joy. About all the good in the world that she had just discovered. About the good in herself that remained undiscovered. A cool calm fell over her as she finally let the absurd wonder of Sanctuary wash over her. _Maybe an IceWing can live here,_ she finally admitted to herself. _And maybe we're not really as different as we think._

Ridiculous.

Ridiculous and wonderful.

And if there was hope for her and Winter to share a smile, then there was hope for other ridiculous things too.

She turned her gaze to the foreign stars and hummed the Song of the Outcast, joining her own noise to the rest of this strange, restless place.

_I am lost in a dark sky._

She was still an IceWing, noble and brave, but she had a new duty now. She would let her old self die, and rise from the ice a better dragon. She would learn what her tribe really needed. Then she would fight for it. She was ready to meet the IceWing outcasts. She was ready to find her real home.

_Fly me home, fly me home._


	2. A Roll of the Dice

_Pyrite woke up._

_Her heart hammered in her chest._

_It was just another one of those dreams. Those horrible, distracting dreams, which sabotaged her devotion to Queen Scarlet and threatened to ruin her missions!_

_You're Pyrite, she told herself. Pyrite, Pyrite, Pyrite. You are a loyal SkyWing, a perfect soldier, and no matter how many horrible things you see, you will always serve Queen Scarlet._

_But the dreams were so vivid. Sometimes she could swear they were real. Sometimes she was sure there was something else hidden inside her, something freezing and furious, clawing desperately at her insides, ready to break her open and burst free._

_Peering back, back into the black emptiness of the dream, a creeping terror overcame her. She was someone else... someone cold... yes... so, so cold..._

Hailstorm woke up.

His heart hammered in his chest.

"Hailstorm, Hailstorm, Hailstorm," he repeated hoarsely to himself, like a stupid hatchling or brittle-boned old snake. _You are Hailstorm. You are an IceWing. A terrible, traitorous IceWing, but an IceWing nonetheless. You are Hailstorm, and you are an IceWing, and you really must get out of bed to help your sociopathic little sister set off on her suicide mission._

The hot sun was already peeking through the window, reminding him to get out and start the day. "Hailstorm," he muttered one more time. He stood up woozily, glanced down at his own talons, then wrapped his wings around himself and groaned. No matter how many blankets he slept on, he always got sandy in the night.

Sanctuary was, quite literally, starting to get under his scales. One grain of red sand at a time.

* * *

Icicle would leave for the Ice Kingdom today.

Winter was certain she would die, and seemed unnervingly nonplussed about this. Hailstorm, on the other wing, could not stop worrying. Summoning up his old mask of IceWing coldness, he tried to hide his nerves from Icicle. _She doesn't want pity_ , he reminded himself. _That would only make her laugh._

"Send a messenger back as soon as you can," he reminded her. "And make sure it's in code. Pasque knows which IceWings we can trust. Get in touch with them right away. They'll hide you if things get bad."

Icicle nodded and slung her bag of supplies over her neck. "I have Riptide's message here. The one about... the _rebels_." She still said that like it was a dirty word, even though she was now flying off to join them. Old habits died hard, especially with IceWings.

"Don't sell us out when Snowfall captures you again," Winter pitched in bleakly.

To Hailstorm's surprise, Icicle didn't bite Winter's snout or threaten to gut him. She opted instead for a haughty glare, then nodded coolly, as if she actually understood that he was joking. Perhaps some sort of peace had finally passed between Hailstorm's two warring siblings.

 _And of course it had to happen right before she flies to her death!_ Hailstorm thought glumly. "What's your alias again?" he asked, gently tightening the strap of her bag.

"Lichen," she replied, her snout wrinkling as if the thought of a false name unnerved her.

"Not very romantic," muttered Winter.

Icicle stood up tall and snorted a puff of frost. "It's the name of our warrior ancestor, you dimwit. She slew twenty royal SkyWings in the War of the Burning Valleys."

"Yeah, well, I bet she wasn't very romantic either," Winter growled, "being our ancestor and all."

Insulted, Icicle spread her wings and prepared to fly off. That would have been a pretty rotten farewell, even by this family's standards, so Hailstorm flared his own wings to stop her. "Wait, wait, wait."

Icicle's gaze softened, the blue ice melting just a bit, and she said, "I've nothing to fear. It's just peasants and penguins out there."

Was that a shiver of fear in her wings? A slight shake in her voice?

"Don't die, Lichen," Hailstorm said. He prodded Winter sharply with his wing, hoping for some sort of truce.

Winter shrugged noncommittally. "We'll be here in Sanctuary, if you return," he said, his brow raising meanly on the _if_.

This seemed to reassure Icicle, who flashed them the first smile Hailstorm had seen on her in years. "It's funny," she said softly, "but this place _has_ grown on me. I'll admit, it's not so bad." She almost laughed. "I'd hate to live in this heat. I'd melt. But the rest of it is... not so horrible, after all."

Then Icicle's mask of calm returned - the same cool, unworried expression that Hailstorm was wearing right now. "Well, good-bye." She nodded curtly, glanced at both of her brothers one last time, then took off, her wingbeats swift and sure.

 _Don't die, don't die, don't die_ , Hailstorm's thoughts repeated desperately. _Please don't die, Icicle. Enough of us have died already._

The sky was lovely with the colors of dawn, a beautiful shade of purple just turning to blue, with a few fluffy white clouds that would feel wonderful to fly through. Icicle had never appreciated such simple things back in the Ice Kingdom. Hailstorm hoped she had changed enough here to finally see the beauty of the sky.

Once Icicle was a sparkling speck in the distance, Winter turned back to Hailstorm. "How are you so nice to her?" he asked.

Hailstorm thought for a bit.

"I know how it feels to be torn in two," he replied.

Hailstorm was glad when Winter didn't pry further. Both brothers just sighed gloomily and sat down to watch the sharpest shard of their broken family disappear into the distance.

* * *

The next day was hot. Ridiculously hot.

Though he had promised Winter he would go out and see Sanctuary's new Scribe School, Hailstorm soon found his old IceWing Snob Instincts kicking in and retreated to his room with a palm frond fan. If the school was anything like the Ice Kingdom's training camps, then the students would surely still be there, hard at work, long into the night. _Besides_ , reasoned Hailstorm, _it'll only cause Fatespeaker and her friends more trouble if I pass out from heatstroke in the middle of the tour._

Winter returned from his daily visit to his Scavenger Sanctuary with a grim look on his face. That was odd. Lecturing Hailstorm and Riptide about the latest scavenger project usually made Winter's eyes light up with glee.

"Another scavenger fight?" asked Hailstorm, still fanning himself. "That last one was great. You'd think they have their own kingdoms, the way they go at each other."

Winter shook his head, his frown deepening. "You haven't been out at all, have you?"

 _Already caught._ Hailstorm sighed. "No. Sorry. I'm sure that school is quite nice, but this heat could melt Mount Misery."

Winter sat down and furled his wings. "There was a riot in the Summer Markets. Riptide and I got caught in the fray." He paused, his talons tapping nervously. "Things are getting crazy."

"Yes, well," Hailstorm said reassuringly, "I'm sure those SandWings -"

"It was IceWings," Winter cut in. "IceWings started it."

Hailstorm set down his palm frond. "Oh."

"It was the Winter Roses," Winter explained grimly. "The rebels were flying their flag, and some other IceWings called it treason. Once they were all fighting, the SkyWings and SandWings jumped in." He sighed. "Riptide warned us about this. The other tribes know the IceWings are fractured, and now they're picking sides. We have to show them we're stronger. The rebels need support."

An icy chill settled in Hailstorm's chest. He'd been dreading this discussion. "So that's our side now?"

"For frost's sake, Hailstorm, did you think we were on Snowfall's side?" snapped Winter.

Hailstorm drew back, shuffling his wings. "No," he muttered, "I suppose not."

For the past few months, as tensions rose in Sanctuary and the Ice Kingdom alike, Hailstorm had been quite aware of the oncoming storm. He had witnessed the very birth of this little "revolution" back when Icicle had broken out of prison and a mob of rebels had sacked the palace. There was no stopping the tide of history now. But part of him had naively hoped that maybe, just maybe, his family would find some way to remain neutral and stay out of the violence.

 _You're never going to be_ neutral _now_ , Hailstorm reminded himself, _not after that stunt you pulled at the palace._

"Riptide and I are going to meet with the Roses tonight," Winter went on. "They think the Conference of Circles might allow a revolution to come peacefully." Winter paused to roll his eyes. "As if Snowfall would let that happen... but we might as well give it a shot. Do you want to come?"

Hailstorm was glad to know that his brother was getting out and making friends, even if those friends were violent revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow their government. Part of him wished to do the same, but he just couldn't bring himself to go. It was all too much, too fast.

"No," he replied, "I think I will stay home."

* * *

Hailstorm did not, in fact, stay home.

On cool nights like these, he liked to disappear into Sanctuary. Going from royalty to refugee status was hard enough, and with a revolution on top of that? Hailstorm needed something to dull the awful ache of it all. Specifically, he needed a strong drink.

As he slipped through unlit streets of outer Sanctuary, dark shapes shifted around him in the shadows - dragons of the dangerous sort going about their business. The town was more menacing than magical out here. Luckily, like most IceWings, Hailstorm was an expert at hiding his fear. He kept his head down, his spines raised, and his teeth bared in a scowl, looking just as murderous as any other wandering miscreant.

A loose pamphlet blew past on a night breeze. He picked it up, straining his eyes to read crumpled paper, and realized that it was a copy of Frostbite's history. The very one that Boreal had snuck out of the Ice Kingdom. _No wonder everyone's gone crazy_ , He thought with a chill. _Riots and rage. Who knows what comes next?_ He balled the pamphlet up again in his talons and threw it on the ground.

He slunk into the Snakeskinner, a seedier joint that was at least fairly diverse in its shadiness. There were SandWings, SkyWings, MudWings, and even a couple SeaWings mingling inside. No IceWings, though. Brave, multicultural IceWings like Winter were few and far between. Most of them, royals and rebels alike, stuck to their own places and got drunk with their own kind. Hailstorm, unsure of where he even stood in their broken tribe, would not be welcome in those cold corners.

Hailstorm thought back to the beautiful night of the Sun Festival. Back when he'd danced with all sorts of different dragons. For just a moment, real hope had filled his heart.

If only things were that simple.

He felt like a fraud. He was one. All that preaching to Icicle about being an IceWing and accepting Sanctuary, when he still didn't feel like one himself and still didn't know the first thing about fitting in here. How could he, when was so hopelessly divided inside?

The tavern fell piercingly quiet as he entered. Luckily, he wasn't thrown out this time. He ordered a cup of ale, knowing full well the SandWing server would spit in it.

Sanctuary wasn't always one big, happy parade.

A long table of MudWings all glared at him, fear and hatred burning in their eyes. Hailstorm couldn't blame them. All of Pyrrhia knew of the atrocities that the IceWings had committed against their MudWing enemies in the war: eggs smashed in cold blood, dragonets left shattered and shrieking on battlefields, prisoners frozen and murdered even after they had surrendered. Hailstorm hadn't been involved in those horrors, but he hadn't done anything to stop them either.

At another table, where cactus wine and roast pigeon was spilled everywhere, an odd bunch of SkyWings and SandWings were gambling with bits of gold. They rolled bone dice and blasted fire whenever someone won another point, which was quite often. Burn marks on all of the tavern's walls showed that this was a pretty typical night. Nobody seemed to mind, least of all the SandWing tavernkeeper, who was currently roasting a fish with her own fiery breath.

Watching the players from the corner of his eye, Hailstorm was surprised to recognize the game. It was called the Tumbling Bird. He'd played it in Scarlet's court back when...

 _No. Not now. Don't think of that._ He swallowed the memory, along with a big gulp of ale that made his insides burn. Not the most pleasant sensation for an IceWing. Then he sat down in a corner and stared down at his talons.

"Hey, IceWing."

Hailstorm turned with a glare.

It was one of the gambling SkyWings. An ex-soldier, young and tough, with sharp golden eyes and a broken horn. Handsome and frightening. As he leaned in, Hailstorm drew back. His gut went cold with frostbreath. Peace agreements be blasted. He was an IceWing. His old habits died hard.

Fortunately, the SkyWing did not attack. He just poked a red wing at Hailstorm and asked, "Are you one of those rebels?"

Honestly, Hailstorm himself didn't know the answer to that yet. He narrowed his eyes and clutched his cup. "Who's asking?"

The SkyWing smirked. "A fan."

Hailstorm stared down at his drink, trying and failing to freeze off the odd rush inside of him. "Look, I'm just an IceWing. I haven't been here long."

"But you're drinking SkyWing ale?" the SkyWing pointed out archly. It was a fair point; most newly arrived IceWings wouldn't even look at other tribe's cultures, let alone taste them.

Hailstorm glanced up. "It appears I am." He added, rather primly, "Anything beats eating ice."

They both snorted awkwardly, frost and smoke puffing out of their snouts. Then, when the SkyWing invited him to join the game, Hailstorm was surprised to find himself nodding. _It's better than just sitting around like a lonely lizard, right?_ He swallowed his unease along with another gulp of ale and sat down with the firebreathing gamblers.

The table was suspicious and silent for a while, each dragon carefully scanning Hailstorm for any sign of aggression. One pair of SandWings in particular, who Hailstorm guessed had probably _not_ been on Blaze and Glacier's side in the war, glared at him as if he'd just frozen their tails. But once it was clear that Hailstorm knew how to play, and once that handsomely frightening SkyWing, Harrier, gave him some gold, something like peace settled and the game went on.

Dice rolled and gold flashed. The table of MudWings belted out a drinking song. Snacks were shared and drinks were poured. This was apparently quite good SkyWing ale, because Hailstorm ordered another cup, and the another. Harrier raised a toast to some random SandWing, and Hailstorm joined in, laughing at jokes he didn't really understand.

And for the first time in a long while, he _almost_ felt safe.

Then someone upped the stakes of the game, and everyone downed a few too many drinks, and Hailstorm's side got lucky... too lucky. He and Harrier won three rounds in a row, and then made the mistake of smiling about that.

"Cheating IceWing," growled a scarred SandWing.

Hailstorm really should have left then and there, but the ale had weighed down his wings and loosened his tongue. "Oh, come now," he said, far too boldly, "as if a simple _SandWing_ -"

He didn't even have to finish the insult. The SandWing shot up and flared his wings, his venomous tail poised to strike. The rest of the table stood too, some ready to fight, some calling for calm, all of them looking at Hailstorm with fear and rage.

Harrier flung out a red wing. "Wait, don't -"

Hailstorm shoved the SkyWing aside. No more playing at peace. Frost filled his gut, all his tentative joy immediately replaced by all the messy grief of an unfinished war.

Then a neighboring table of SandWings and SeaWings, all bearing frostbreath scars on their scales, stood and snarled and sized up the tipsy IceWing who had just messed up their night. Far too late, Hailstorm realized what a sparkling target he was. _Three moons, I'm going to be obliterated._ What was wrong with him? Why had he even come here? And why, in the name of all the stars and moons, had he let himself get drunk? _Stupid SkyWing ale!_

Fortunately, those singing MudWings had also gotten into a tussle - something about someone ruining the harmony, and that fight got rowdy enough for Hailstorm to stumble out of the place unnoticed. He dodged a barbed tail, narrowly avoided a blast of fire, and slipped out into the street, slamming right into a pair of giggling RainWings. They rushed off before he could apologize, leaving him feeling both terrified for his life and terribly impolite.

Dazed and angry and ashamed, Hailstorm tried to fly home. After soaring around in circles and almost crashing into someone's cactus garden, he decided it was better to walk.

Stumbling along, he somehow ended up in the IceWing side of town. A small, but very drunk and passionate, group of young IceWings had assembled outside of one of the newly-raised tents, their voices rough with the low-class accent of peasants. Even hopeless intoxicated, Hailstorm could tell his circles apart.

A sloppy rebel banner hung over their meeting place, painted, of course, with the sign of the Winter Rose. When Hailstorm glanced at it, the prickly white flower seemed to blur and dance, taunting him with memories of that mad escape from the palace.

"Rise up, IceWings!" cheered one of their leaders. "Spread your wings! This is our chance to take back the kingdom!"

Hailstorm ducked his head down and tried to slip past.

"Hey, you!" the same rebel shouted. "IceWing! Come on, join the fight."

Hailstorm did not look up.

"What are you, a royalist?" snarled someone behind him.

 _If only you knew_ , Hailstorm wanted to growl back, but he'd had enough trouble for one night, so he kept his eyes on the dusty ground and focused on stumbling home.

* * *

Despite his aching head (that SkyWing stuff sure was strong), Hailstorm did his best to follow Winter's advice and get out early the next day. The air was still cool and the sky still dim as he flew out to the Scavenger Sanctuary.

"A sanctuary in Sanctuary," he muttered to himself as he landed. Lately, Winter had been hoping to turn it into a research center of sorts, to educate other dragons about the "wonders of scavenger society". Hailstorm still couldn't understand the appeal of the grubby little things, but Winter seemed actually happy whenever he talked about them. At least there was something going right here.

The scavengers were all mostly hidden away in their little dens. If Hailstorm squinted, those almost looked like houses and towns. Winter loved that kind of oddity, and usually spent his free time here with his sketchpad.

As for Hailstorm, he had come for the view. Watching some scavengers squabble and stab each other was just a perk.

From up here he could see the roofs of Sanctuary. It was a strange, motley assortment of styles: bricks, tiles, wooden slats, and thatched hay mixed on every street. Canvas tents were everywhere, some of them dyed beautiful, eye-popping colors. There were also a few new houses, constructed by RainWing newcomers, which sported strange roofs made of palm fronds. Such a bizarre assortment of different buildings was the exact opposite of the Ice Kingdom, where everything was perfectly and chillingly the same.

Above it flew dragons of every color. That was the most shocking thing of all. From a distance, it all seemed so hopeful, like all the hate and division he'd seen were just a misstep on the way to a happy future of peace.

He could see it, if he squinted. He could almost dare to hope.

Then leaves rustled, and voice sounded behind him. "Hey, Winter, is that you?"

Hailstorm jumped. Fortunately, his battle instincts had cooled by now, so he did not blast Qibli in the face with ice. That would have been rather hard to explain to the Talons of Peace.

"Wi -" Qibli stopped. An odd mixture of regret and relief flitted across the SandWing's face as he realized he had stumbled upon a _different_ grumpy IceWing. "Oh! My bad."

Hailstorm stared back coolly, his face perfectly blank, then remembered that other tribes apparently found that rude. _Smile_ , he reminded himself, _it is not uncouth to smile here._

"Ah, Qibli!" Hailstorm plastered on the biggest smile he could. His voice remained rather stiff, which he tried to make up for with an extra bright grin.

Qibli grinned back, looking a little alarmed. That probably meant Hailstorm had to work on his smile. "Hey, uh... Hailstorm, right?"

Hailstorm nodded. He dropped his fake smile and eyed the SandWing carefully. _How much does this dragon know?_ He could have sworn he'd spotted Winter speaking to the SandWing at last week's festival, but would Winter really have revealed their revolutionary plans to a foreigner?

"I remember you," Hailstorm said mildly. "Winter's friend."

"Yeah. But we, uh, haven't talked much lately," Qibli explained. "I guess the desert winds just swept in, you know?"

A SandWing idiom, but Hailstorm got the gist of it. "He's mentioned you. Occasionally," Hailstorm replied noncommittally. In reality, the last time Winter had talked about Qibli had been when he finally vented all of his hurt and frustration to Hailstorm. Not exactly a fun time. Hailstorm recalled one particularly creative insult: _that two-faced, sandy-winged, pretty-snouted backstabber._

Qibli's pretty snout crumpled in a wince. Apparently he had some idea of what Winter had mentioned about him. "I wasn't fair to him, I admit that," he said, "and I know he had some feelings for Moon. Look, I'd really like to make things right some time. I know Moon does too."

"I will tell him," Hailstorm replied rather curtly.

"Anyway," Qibli went on, "I have some news from Thorn, too." He paused, and cleared his throat. "Queen Thorn, I mean. Great gilas, I'm still not used to calling her that. We just flew in from her castle."

Hailstorm raised his brow, surprised. "Your queen consorts with commoners?"

Qibli laughed. "Of course - she _was_ a commoner!"

"Ah." Hailstorm nodded. He didn't know much about the new SandWing queen's origins, having been confined first in the strict SkyWing court and then in the even stricter IceWing court while her reign began. In fact, he didn't know much about the Sand Kingdom itself, beyond what he had seen in Sanctuary.

"Thorn wants to send some help to the IceWing revolutionaries," Qibli murmured, his voice low and secretive even though they were alone. Perhaps he feared a scavenger would overhear. "She has to keep it all hush-hush, you see, so that Queen Ruby won't get all smoked up over it, but she'd like to meet up with those Winter Rose fellows. She might even be able to slide them a few weapons... under her wing, if you catch my drift."

Hailstorm snorted incredulously. "Your queen wants to help tear down a monarchy?"

"She's still a rebel at heart," said Qibli, smiling with a bit of his own rebel pride. "You know she came up from the Scorpion Den, right?"

"The Scorpion Den?!" Even an isolated IceWing like Hailstorm knew about that infamous place. "Impossible."

"It's true." Qibli grinned. "That's where I met her." His expression darkened a bit. "I don't hang around there anymore, though. Sanctuary is safer."

Hailstorm thought back to last night's bar fight and wondered what Qibli's idea of "safe" was. "An outclaw queen," Hailstorm murmured. "It's truly wild out here."

Now Qibli paused, his dark eyes narrowing, and Hailstorm remembered that the SandWing had loyalties of his own to defend.

"No offense, but you guys are the ones who stick out," Qibli said. His warm smile returned. "Flying around in circles, with all those high-falutin' ranks. The other kingdoms are changing. If you ask me, it's time your queen and her sparkly friends caught up."

Hailstorm stiffened. His inner IceWing snob wanted to protest, but everything in Sanctuary seemed to support Qibli's claims. Every day, more news came in about how the rest of Pyrrhia was improving. Even the Sky Kingdom, which had long suffered under Queen Scarlet's despotism, was becoming much fairer under Queen Ruby's reforms. Was the Ice Kingdom next?

"Perhaps change is inevitable," Hailstorm agreed. He glanced back down the hill at all those strange roofs, now feeling an odd mixture of fondness and fear for all the foreign things that surrounded him. "I must confess, I know so little of your culture, it's like a different world."

"Say," said Qibli, "Moon and Fatespeaker are gonna be busy welcoming the NightWing exchange students today. Why don't I take you on a tour of the SandWing district?"

Curiosity tugged at Hailstorm, like a refreshingly cold breeze. "That sounds most interesting," he replied, smiling, and so it was agreed.

Hailstorm felt, with a strange certainty, that he had just made a new friend. He never would have considered such a thing back at the IceWing palace. But he was no longer in the Ice Kingdom, and he was ready to find some good in the mess of his strange, new world.

* * *

Most interesting, indeed!

Before he knew it, Hailstorm was swooping through the crowded sky over downtown Sanctuary. Qibli flew like a typical SandWing, flapping and diving with little planning or grace, and Hailstorm soon realized that if he didn't want crash into the other fliers, he would have to pick up on that as well. There were no ordered IceWing flight formations here, just a bunch of different dragons rushing toward wherever they wanted to go.

Hailstorm was surprised to learn that, despite all the chaos in the streets, there was a real order to the markets of Sanctuary. They were also relatively peaceful today - no riots, though he did spot a few minor scuffles. Qibli pointed out all the different sections as they flew overhead, noting which shops had the best deals, which ones had cheated him in the past, which ones were probably fronts for treasure-smuggling.

"Now, that one's _definitely_ shady," he muttered, pointing out a stall with two stout SandWings standing guard, "but they have the best buffalo rolls in town, so we've gotta go there anyway."

Confused and intrigued, Hailstorm nodded. "I _do_ like buffalo."

Qibli insisted they stop by the clothing shops, as the SandWings had a uniquely rich textile tradition, especially in this part of the desert. Hailstorm was surprised to see dragons hawking their tapestries and banners as well. In the Ice Kingdom, such crafts were looked down on with disdain. _Real_ artists worked with ice and stone. In the Sand Kingdom, though, all those rules were thrown to the wind.

Hailstorm poked a woven wrap with his tail and tried to hide his disdain. _How do you even wear this thing?_

"You IceWings aren't really into costumes, huh?" noted Qibli.

"We are perfectly adapted to our kingdom," Hailstorm explained. "Clothes would be impractical and inelegant. Unless they symbolize status, in which case, simple drapings suffice."

"Look, I know we're supposed to be all about respecting other tribes now," muttered Qibli, "but isn't that... boring?"

"Oh, yes," Hailstorm agreed, "it's terribly boring." That was pretty much a point of pride for IceWings.

"Come on, you'll love this stuff." Qibli pointed out a secondhand stall with baskets full of cheap cloth set out in the street.

Hailstorm paused, ashamed to admit, "I've nothing to trade."

"Oh, I never have anything to trade," Qibli assured him, earning them both a few joking growls from the vendors. "But we're welcome to try things on. Moon and I always have fun here."

They went through a few odd scarves and shawls, each one more strange and colorful than the last. Qibli's idea of "stylish" was about a thousand miles away from Hailstorm's, but Hailstorm was surprised to find out that they both looked rather good in red. They also found a set of ridiculous cloaks that seemed crafted to be as lumpy and dusty as possible. The seller, a grumpy old SandWing, charged extra for her designer goods.

"You were right," Hailstorm admitted as they both tried on fish-shaped masks, "this is _fun_." The word felt odd. IceWings didn't usually say that. He turned back to Qibli and grinned - a real grin this time, not a fake and alarming one.

"Now that one's stunning," joked Qibli. "Hideous, but stunning."

After getting chased off from the fancier clothing shops, they headed to the food stands for lunch. Qibli deftly dodged his way through the busy square. Hailstorm did his best to follow.

It was hard to get used to a world where dragons didn't bow or even step out of the way for him. Apparently everyone just bumped into each other's tails and stepped on each other's wings and got on with their lives. It was weird, but oddly freeing.

"Moon loves this place," Qibli said as they waited for their smoked boar meat. "Now, I say they skimp on the spices, but you know how NightWing food is." He smiled and shrugged defeatedly.

Hailstorm really didn't know anything about NightWing food. His mother had told him that NightWings ate baby IceWings, but that was _probably_ a lie. He nodded anyway.

What really puzzled him was the nature of Qibli and Moon's courtship. The way they just... flew around and even _ate_ together. Such a thing would have never been allowed in the Ice Kingdom. Even among the lower circles, where marriages were not always arranged, public displays of romance were considered uncouth.

He thought about his own experience with love. Or rather, how his tribe and family had tried to squeeze it out of him. Love simply wasn't a factor in the cold workings of the IceWing palace. Especially for dragons like Hailstorm. Dragons like him were supposed to freeze those dangerous feelings dead and break them off, and he had done as he'd been taught. Then under that awful Pyrite enchantment for so many years, he'd been literally incapable of feeling any sort of deeper connection.

Now, as he slowly pieced himself back together, he was discovering a new world within his own heart. _You're free here_ , he reminded himself, staring down at his meal of foreign food. _These rules are different. This world is not cruel._

He glanced up at Qibli, and felt an odd warmth, something that had always been there, but had never been allowed to fly free. He wasn't sure about what to do with that feeling yet. His throat froze whenever he even thought about it. Qibli was obviously taken, anyway - Three moons, that SandWing sure loved babbling about how much he loved Moon. And for now, Hailstorm was happy just to sit there listening and quietly figuring himself out. He had made a new friend; that was wonderful in its own way.

Love was never going to be easy, and he would figure it out when he was ready. Things like that took time.

"What's it like," Hailstorm asked cautiously, "dating someone from a different tribe?"

Gripping his bag of delicious-smelling food tight, Qibli winced and let out a puff of smoke. "I won't lie," he said, "it's not always easy. Most dragons are understanding now, especially us SandWings. I mean, Queen Thorn herself has a mixed-tribe daughter! But there are always gonna be mean old tail-biters out there." He shifted his wings, clearly a bit uneasy. "Hey, why don't we grab some drinks too."

After they traded a few of Qibli's spare baubles for hibiscus wine, Hailstorm insisted they stop and sit down to eat. As much as he loved the new food of Sanctuary, he just couldn't get used to eating while flying, as the busy SandWings and MudWings did. It seemed like a terrible choking hazard.

A vendor passed by, selling leftover festival masks. These ones were colorful gila monster designs. Hailstorm turned to Qibli again and asked, "What do those masks mean?"

"The sun costumes? It's all just for fun. Dragonets love 'em." Qibli paused to snack a bit more. "Thorn said it all started in the ancient times, back when everyone was all superstitious and whatnot. Something about how all the desert creatures used to dance with us dragons on the solstice." He snorted. "All hogwash, but like I said, it's fun."

The Ice Kingdom had stories and superstitions too, but good IceWings were taught never to share them with other tribes. _Other kingdoms do not deserve our wisdom_ , Tundra had always hissed. Hailstorm had never even suspected that the SandWings had ancient and rich legends of their own. It was humbling to learn that their festivals had just as much history as the IceWings' Royal Ball.

"Fun," Hailstorm repeated. He thought back to the night of the festival, the memory now imbued with a bit more history. He smiled. "That's wonderful."

"You look a bit surprised," noted Qibli.

Hailstorm nodded. "Thoroughly."

"See," Qibli said wryly, "we're not the scruffy sandbrains you IceWings make us out to be. Well..." He flashed a grin. " _Some_ of us are scruffy sandbrains. But our kingdom is just as old and odd as yours."

* * *

As they headed out of the SandWing side of the Sanctuary and into its mixed center, Hailstorm tried to relax and take in all the strange sights. He felt safer with Qibli as his guide, and was starting to get the hang of navigating the city. He ducked and dodged. He flew like a maniac. He smiled and let the madness of Sanctuary take over.

Then the Winter Roses came marching along, and suddenly that madness didn't seem so magic after all.

Some Talons of Peace were hanging out with the IceWing rebels now. No sign of Riptide or Winter, but Hailstorm recognized a few of their friends. They were handing out fliers for a meeting between the two groups, inviting dragons of all tribes to come learn about what was going on in the Ice Kingdom.

That by itself made Hailstorm nervous. The royalist IceWings would surely find out about this. What would happen if fighting broke out? The song that the rebels were singing now was just frost on top that. It was a traditional IceWing tune, one of those songs low-class soldiers sang as they flew, but they had changed all the lyrics to be far more revolutionary.

_Good Queen Glacier's gone and dead_   
_Snowfall's going too_   
_Useless queens must lose their heads_   
_All our blood runs blue_

Caught up in the song, Qibli grinned and flapped his wings to the beat. Then, noticing Hailstorm's frown, he took the hint and hurried along. He eyed Hailstorm oddly. "You're antsy about this whole rebellion thing, aren't you?"

Hailstorm shot him a cold look.

Qibli shrugged his wings. "It's all right, I'm no rattler." More SandWing slang. "I'd worry too, in your scales."

"What rational dragon _wouldn't_ worry?" Hailstorm replied.

It was more than that, of course. Apparently it was normal for dragons like Qibli to actually share their emotions with each other. As strange as it felt, Hailstorm decided to give it a go. After all, nobody could help him if he kept everything behind a mask.

"And," Hailstorm went on carefully, "I'm not too keen on signing up for another war. I've seen quite enough violence already." He stared out at the peaceful, colorful bustle of the marketplace. "I've been shoved into the shape of another dragon, and seen another kingdom torn apart."

"Oh. Right." Qibli winced.

Hailstorm did his best to shrug it off. No use being gloomy and IceWing-y here. That was Winter's job. "No hope for a normal life now, though," he muttered, "so I must make do."

"What was it like, being a different dragon?" asked Qibli.

Hailstorm's heart hammered as Pyrite's memories rushed back. Luckily, he was good at keeping those at bay. He shoved them back. Froze them away. Thawing out that pain would be a lifelong journey, and maybe one day he would feel strong and safe enough to talk about it. Today was not that day.

"Unpleasant," he said.

Qibli seemed to grasp Hailstorm's discomfort, and kindly dropped the subject. "Let's go try some cactus juice," he suggested. "Just remember, be very careful about which type of cactus it is..."

* * *

As they headed back toward Hailstorm's home, Qibli talked about his past among the outclaws. They had a good laugh over Qibli's stories about chasing Ostrich through the Scorpion Den, and Hailstorm found himself becoming ridiculously invested in whatever was going on between Queen Thorn and Prince Smolder. Hailstorm asked about everything - the food, the music, the weird rules of hippo hunting, and Qibli was glad to answer.

Then they passed an IceWing poster, this one a royalist piece with a sickeningly benevolent caricature of Queen Snowfall. Someone had defaced it with words over her face. Hailstorm did not slow to read them. Qibli, who did, let out a snort of laughter, but stopped when he saw Hailstorm's severe expression.

"Do you miss the Ice Kingdom?" Qibli asked as they moved along.

"Yes," replied Hailstorm, quite sure. "It's a wretched place, I know, but it's my home."

Qibli glanced back at the poster as they kept walking. "So why don't you fight?"

Hailstorm frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Why don't you take back your home?" Qibli's eyes shined boldly. "If Thorn and her ragtag team can do it, why not you and yours?"

Hailstorm shook his head. "That's the thing," he said, "I'm not scared of battle. The moons know I've seen worse..." He glanced aside, tail lashing, and Qibli seemed to understand. "It's what comes next that terrifies me," Hailstorm explained. "Suppose that we do, somehow, capture the palace and kill the queen. What then? That's a new dynasty. A new kingdom. What if it ends up at wretched as the first one?"

"You've got good dragons on your side," reasoned Qibli. "Pick a good queen. Make sure she rules fairly."

Hailstorm shook his head. "Do you know who Queen Scarlet's mother was, Qibli?"

Qibli paused, his snout twisting in thought. "Queen... hmm, three moons, it's slipped my mind. Not my tribe, though."

"Her name," said Hailstorm, "was Queen Jewel, and she was one of the finest queens the Sky Kingdom had ever seen. Kind and fair as they come. Then her daughter Scarlet came along and cut her throat. And the Sky Kingdom was ruined overnight." He swallowed, shoving down sharp, hot memories of pain and rage. "I would not wish that sort of tyrant on any kingdom, let alone my own. Who knows what monster could succeed our 'good queen'?"

"I see." Qibli's brow furrowed as he caught on. "That's the curse of queens, though, isn't it? Some of 'em are Thorns, some are Scarlets."

"It's a gamble," growled Hailstorm, "a roll of the dice, with an entire kingdom in the balance."

"So," said Qibli, "you want find a better way."

"Yes," Hailstorm nodded, "but I... I don't know how. No tribe has ever lasted without a monarch. Where would we even start?"

Qibli fell silent, and Hailstorm felt hopeless.

Then, flashing a smile, the SandWing said, "You should ask the RainWings." Hailstorm scoffed, but Qibli went on, "No, really. They've got a whole different system there. Their own weird way of life. They have a queen, of course, but it's... different. I don't understand it much myself, but they seem happy, don't they? Just ask Kinkajou." He nodded to himself, his tail swishing with certainty. "I'd reckon this new world of yours could learn a lot from the Rainforest Kingdom."

"The Rainforest Kingdom," Hailstorm repeated. For some reason, the idea didn't seem too absurd. He nodded gratefully. "I'll think about it."

* * *

Qibli didn't ask to see Winter, and Hailstorm didn't mention it. Better not to spoil their happy day with a messy ending. Better to leave that stone unturned, at least for now. Instead, Hailstorm stopped at his street and said farewell to his new friend there. Watching the SandWing fly off, he felt oddly lighter inside, like a weight had been lifted off his wings. Sanctuary wasn't perfect. Nor was his new life. But Qibli had shown him some wonderful new things about both.

Hailstorm returned home far more cheerful than usual, and was surprised when his brother didn't notice. Winter was sitting inside, alone, reading something by the light of a window. He glanced up as Hailstorm entered, and returned his brother's formal greeting, but seemed twitchy and distracted. Two empty cups were still set out on the table. Perhaps Riptide had stopped by to mooch off their tea again.

"Have you ever been to the Rainforest Kingdom?" Hailstorm asked as he furled his wings.

Winter stared through him as if he were a ghost, his eyes oddly stunned. "The Rainforest?" he managed weakly.

"Sorry," said Hailstorm. "I know it seems a bit wild, but I really do think I could help -"

"No," Winter interrupted, "it isn't... that's not..." A familiar sadness sunk into his expression. "It's Moon. I saw Moon. She stopped by while you were out."

"Oh." Hailstorm's brow shot up. He decided, tactfully, not to mention that he was now friends with a certain handsome SandWing. "Is she... is she well?"

Winter sighed. "We talked a bit. That's all. Don't worry, I'm not going to smash anything this time." He cleared his throat, his tail thumping the ground, and went on briskly, "So, the Rainforest Kingdom?"

Hailstorm decided not to pry further. Both of them had things that they wanted to forget.

"Yes," Hailstorm said, "I think it would be educational, perhaps even inspiring, to see how things work there. How other dragons live."

"It's hot," warned Winter, "and wet. Horribly wet. And everyone is horrendously colorful." He smiled. "But you know what? I think it might do you good. Some extra colors and insects and fruit won't kill you, I guess." He paused. "Well, maybe the insects..."

Hailstorm's tail curled with revulsion. "Three moons, do they really eat _fruit_?"

"With every meal," Winter replied solemnly.

Hailstorm laughed and picked up his palm frond. "I'll perish," he groaned.

"You might be surprised!" Winter insisted, laughing along.

A nervous blizzard whirled in Hailstorm's stomach as he thought about what this journey could entail. He tried to embrace it with hope. _Horrendously colorful?_ he thought. _That should be interesting._ If there was one thing that Sanctuary had taught him, one grain of sand at a time, it was how to seek out all the weird and wonderful things in the new worlds that awaited him.

"I hope I'll be thoroughly surprised," Hailstorm replied with a smile.


	3. This Glimpse of Moonlight

Sometimes Winter wished the propaganda was true.

For example, one poster he found pinned to a palm tree said that he was a HEARTLESS REBEL LUNATIC who wanted to SLAY EVERY GOOD ICEWING & SELL OUR DRAGONETS TO THE NIGHTWINGS. It was accompanied by a particularly haggard and hollow etching of his face, which Winter found rather insulting, since he had actually filled out a bit while snacking on all the food of Sanctuary. At least they'd gotten his scowl down right.

Now if only that heartless part was accurate.

On this side of Sanctuary, such posters were common. There were other blocks where rebel IceWings formed the majority and revolutionary songs sounded everywhere, but most of the town was torn. Hopefully today's meeting with the Talons of Peace and Winter Roses would help raise more support. Winter was relieved that he and Riptide were headed toward friends. It was draining how he now had to worry about assassination every time he went downtown for some antelope soup.

When Winter showed the poster to Riptide, the SeaWing just scoffed and said, "You should have seen the stuff Coral wrote about the Talons of Peace during the War. It was _crazy_." He paused, frowning. "She also did some really messed up things to our refugee camps..."

Before they could get into _that_ can of worms, their new sidekick Squid cut in with, "Woah, you look crazy! I wish I had a wanted poster."

"Don't we all," muttered Riptide.

Squid was a bit like barnacle that had stuck itself onto Riptide's side. At this point, it would be far too inconvenient to remove him, but it was still kind of annoying to see him there.

Now that Winter was putting conscious effort into not being a jerk, he tried not to constantly growl and glare at the clumsy SeaWing. That was becoming awfully hard as they all headed through the seedy side of Sanctuary together. Did Squid _want_ to get kidnapped? If Winter had to pull that twerp out of one more dangerous alley, he was going to snap.

They flew the rest of the way to the meeting place. Thankfully, the sky was clear today, so Squid didn't get lost in the clouds again.

Riptide pointed out the Talons of Peace's tent with pride, his wings lighting up in a SeaWing greeting as he spiraled down to land. Though the Talons' were hosting the meeting, they had hoisted a bright blue tent and flew the rebels' Rose flag as a symbol of friendship. Guards from both groups were posted outside and circling overhead, a grim reminder that even here, in Sanctuary, they feared attack. Despite this, hope stirred in Winter's heart when he saw how many dragons had showed up.

The moment they arrived, dragons all around began to whisper and smile. A few of the more formal IceWings even bowed. Winter bowed back, embarrassed, though he had to admit, this _was_ a lot nicer than all those whispers that had followed him around the IceWing Palace. Suddenly, everything that had made him an outcast and traitor had been flipped into the story of a hero.

"Riptide!" called a vaguely familiar voice. Then, with a hint of exhaustion, "And Squid. Welcome back, son."

A big green SeaWing approached them. Winter recognized him as Nautilus, former head of the Talons of Peace. Apparently he was no longer their undisputed leader, as the Talons had changed and branched out since the end of the war. He was still one of their most respected dragons, though, so his support for the Roses meant a lot today. Winter greeted him with a cordial bow.

After exchanging greetings, and some heated opinions on the new seafood place in the SeaWing quarter, Nautilus and Riptide both turned to Winter expectantly.

"Are you sure you're up to speaking today?" Riptide asked.

 _No. Absolutely not._ Winter nodded. "Yes."

"That's a relief," said Nautilus. "The IceWings seem to need some... inspiration." He looked to Winter hopefully. "Just speak from the heart. This speech could finally turn the tides."

As if Winter didn't have enough pressure on him.

Nautilus led them to their seats near the front of the tent, pointing out notable Talons and Roses along the way. Winter was already starting to feel overwhelmed. He sat down and looked out at the crowd. Or, rather, at the _two_ crowds.

While a few brave IceWings mingled with the colorful Talons of Peace, most of them stuck to their own side of the tent, sitting fretfully and talking only with their fellow rebels. Winter had expected this - no matter how revolutionary these ones were, IceWing prejudices against other tribes ran deep. IceWings of _every_ circle were taught to stay away from different dragons. It would take a lot of work (and desperation) to get the rebels to trust the Talons.

But it had to be done, because without help, there was no way they stood a chance against Snowfall.

A rebel IceWing named Chill introduced herself to the Talons and explained the basic history of the Ice Kingdom, this time including all the grisly details of oppression. Winter, who had discovered said grisly details back in the IceWing Palace, was already aware of most of that. He snuck a few more glances at the rest of the audience, and was shamefully relieved not to see Moon or Qibli.

He'd screwed up his friendship with them enough already over these past few days. They didn't need to see him fail again.

Nautilus spoke next, explaining why he felt that the Talons and Roses shared the same mission. When he finished, a tentative cheer rose up, mostly from the Talons. Some IceWings joined in. Far too few.

Riptide's brief speech got a louder response, as he was a bit more charismatic than Nautilus. His friends in the Talons hooted and hollered at all his jokes, most of which went over the IceWing side's heads. He did prompt a few smiles, though. That was good.

Then it was Winter's turn.

Winter stepped up onto the speaker's platform, which turned out to be an old moose-meat crate draped in canvas. Over the past few days, he'd been preparing for this, privately picking apart his notes and figuring out what to say. He'd had it all planned out. But now, faced with the actual audience and his actual speech, everything seemed to freeze.

"Right, yes, uh..." Winter gulped. His throat had suddenly gone dry.

It occurred to him that these dragons, too, had seen his wanted posters up all over town, and probably assumed he had done things to deserve that bounty. What crazy rumors were going around now? Was he supposed to be some kind of rebel genius? A real revolutionary?

As if to prove that poster wrong, Winter's heart started pounding like crazy. _So much for "speaking from the heart"_ , he thought, unable to still his shaking wings, _I'm going to drop dead from a heart attack instead._

"Good morning," he said. Was he supposed to make his voice all formal again? Or would that make him sound like a royal snob? He could barely get the words out, anyway. "I am honored to speak to you." He paused, swallowed his fear, and raised his head. "All of you. Talons and Roses. As Nautilus said, we are natural allies." Without thinking, he added, "I consider myself to be both, and I could not ask for better friends."

Murmurs passed through the two crowds. Winter couldn't tell if they were positive or negative. Those IceWings sure were good at keeping blank faces.

Winter thought back to Nautilus's words. _Inspiration. They need inspiration._ He knew, far too well, how it felt to be in their scales. Hopeless. Confused. He would have to explain that first.

"I, too," he went on solemnly, "have been crushed by these cruel systems. I have seen my friends and family suffer. I have watched my tribe lose its soul." Before he knew it, his own story was pouring out. "I was raised to worship our ranks. I was told to kill my own brother for the sake of these _circles_." He kept his voice calm even as his wings shook. "My family was destroyed by this sick idea of honor. My father died for a kingdom that saw him only as a number on a list. For many years, that's how I thought I would die." He paused. "A number on a list."

He thought about his time at Jade Mountain Academy, his travels across Pyrrhia, and the strange, unfinished journey he had embarked on within himself.

"But I've since seen the world outside of that palace," he went on. "I've learned there are other ways to live. And no, the rest of Pyrrhia isn't perfect, but it sure felt like an open sky compared to what I knew in the Ice Kingdom. That's something worth fighting for." He bit back a sigh. "I hate to say it, but how sure can any of us be of our freedom? What's keeping every other kingdom from sliding back into that same tyranny? We need to show Pyrrhia that things _can_ change, and that they can change _peacefully_."

Now every dragon seemed to lean in. Still silent. Still blank.

"I know you were taught to fear each other." He looked from crowd to crowd, from Rose to Talon, from dragon to dragon. "I was taught that same fear. And that is the _lie_ that divides us. That's how the tyrants win. Now I won't tell you we're all the same or anything, because that sure as snow isn't true." He managed a small, sarcastic smile. "But we've got one thing in common, at least. We want a better world. We want free Pyrrhia. I think that's a pretty good reason to start flying side by side."

Winter glanced at Riptide, and was glad to see his friend nodding along.

"So for moons' sake," Winter finished firmly, "let's all work together, and try not to start another war."

The Talons and Roses were still watching him intently, so Winter stopped, gazed around awkwardly, and dipped himself down in a quick bow.

And they all _cheered_.

This time the cheer was full and proud, and came from both sides of the tent. A real roar of approval. The sound of hope. Pleasantly stunned, Winter bowed again, then went to stand beside Riptide and Squid. Both SeaWings were flapping their wings and grinning.

Then, just as the cheers died down, Squid turned to him and said, _much_ too loudly, "Wow, that sounded wild. No wonder we call the IceWings _Circle-Snakes_!"

Every single IceWing in the tent stared at them.

"Squid," said Riptide, "stop talking."

There was a tense silence. Then someone from the IceWing side chuckled, and then another, and another. Soon the whole place was laughing along. A bunch of dour, dismal IceWings finally flapping their wings and smiling.

Winter, too, found himself grinning, and he had to admit, it felt good. He turned back to Squid, who was still looking around in confusion, and silently thanked the barnacle-ish little SeaWing. Laughter was a rare thing now. Something to be treasured wherever it was found.

* * *

The next morning, as Winter went out for a flight over his Scavenger Sanctuary, he couldn't help dwelling on that moment. That cheer.

This was a success, right? His first success in a long while. _So why doesn't it feel like one?_

Once the roar of their cheers and that rush of joy and accomplishment faded, Winter was left with an odd sense of dread. He'd said a lot of pretty things about _peace_ and _freedom_ , but when he peered into his own heart, did he really believe them? He wanted to, of course. Who wouldn't _want_ to hope for a fair, peaceful revolution?

 _An_ impossible _revolution_ , his cynical side shot back. _Nothing like that has ever happened before, and nothing ever will._

But he was supposed to be a hero now, and heroes were supposed to have hope.

So, just as he had always done, he hid his fears and swallowed his doubts and decided to fly into whatever storm awaited him.

He landed carefully, then silently picked his way through the forest, hoping not to scare the scavengers off. He'd gotten quite good at that over the past year, and had managed to fill his sketchbooks with amazing discoveries about scavenger behavior. Who would have guessed that scavengers could actually tame wolves! Lately, though, with his wings weighed down by all his new responsibilities, he was rarely able to go out and really study them. He was looking forward to finally getting back to work.

Then, as if the universe just had to spite him, Kinkajou came hurtling out of the trees. Bright and _loud_ as ever. "Oh stars! Look, Winter's back!" she cried, bouncing around like a hyperactive marmoset.

Winter was genuinely happy to see his friend, but he knew his plans for a peaceful day in the woods were dead.

To make matters even worse (and more eye-burningly colorful) Kinkajou had brought along some of _her_ friends: two SeaWings and whole gaggle of RainWings, all of them chattering just as cheerfully. Any hope of them observing real scavenger habits vanished the moment someone cracked a joke and caused a thunder of earth-shaking laughter. Winter's research subjects all ran for the hills.

Swallowing his disappointment, Winter mustered up a smile and offered them a tour. "But please don't step on the scavengers," he warned. "They break easily."

The eager young dragons soon started to wander off. Once he was sure they weren't going to snack on his scavengers, Winter let them go.

"Woah, are those little forts?" Kinkajou crowed from a glen. "That's so cute!"

Soon Kinkajou and her friends fluttered off to check on another settlement, their noisy excitement terrifying all the scavengers back into their dens. Winter didn't really mind. He knew they were _trying_ to help.

And it _was_ great to see them getting so excited over his sanctuary. _So I'm not crazy, scavengers_ are _worth studying!_ Word had spread about his project, and all of these dragons were inspired by it. He felt a small flush of pride, seeing his work vindicated like that.

Then he heard them start to gossip about the Sun Festival. Just silly things, like who had danced with who. But that was enough to bring it all back.

Winter scowled despite himself, the memories returning like unwelcome ghosts. Even here, in his favorite place in the world, he still couldn't manage to forget.

* * *

_Sanctuary sang and the sky whirled with color. Joyful noise filled the summer air. The festival was in full swing._

_And Winter stood there, dumbstruck, his eyes wide behind his ridiculous mask._

_"Winter!" Moon exclaimed. She wore a stylized quail mask over her face, painted with hints silver that brought out the shine in her scales. "Three moons," she said softly, "it's been so long..."_

_She sounded cheerful enough, but Winter couldn't help wondering what he would have seen on her face. Then, glancing down at his own neck, he realized he wasn't wearing his bit of skyfire, and wondered if she had heard him wondering that._

_"Hey," Winter said. "You guys look great."_

_Qibli's mask was a sleek, teakwood eagle. Even with his snout covered by a wooden beak, he was annoyingly handsome as ever._ _"Is that a burrowing owl?" The SandWing smiled weakly, pointing out Winter's mask. "Nice."_

_Owl, quail, and eagle: three birds. Maybe it was a sign._

_"We're heading downtown. Qibli said we've gotta dance." Moon laughed meekly. "Want to come?"_

_"Sure." Winter smiled._ _As messy as things had gotten between the three of them, his heart was warmed by the offer._

 _Still, as their little flock of bird masks headed into the party, W_ _inter couldn't help stealing another nervous glance at Moon. He knew she would never purposely peer into his mind, but it was probably pretty hard for her to ignore all the thoughts that were racing in there right now. Especially the ones about her._

 _Qibli clearly saw his discomfort, and tapped Winter with his wing._ _"Here, borrow my skyfire." He looked to Moon trustingly, the silent, sappy message clear: I love my girlfriend enough to let her violate_ my _privacy!_

No _, Winter told himself._ That's your envy talking, you bitter lizard.

 _He accepted Qibli's pouch of skyfire and tried not to glare._ _So Moon and Qibli were happy now. That was a good thing, right? Winter was supposed to feel happy for them. And if he couldn't muster the kindness to do that, he could at least pretend._

_As they shared some roast cactus and kebabs, Moon and Qibli told him all about what they'd gotten up to at school. "We just planned a field trip to Possibility," said Moon. "Now I hope Sanctuary will be next. So many new things to see."_

_"So, Winter, how's it going here?" Qibli asked. "I heard there was some trouble."_

_Winter shrugged. "It's fine. We're safe."_

_He wasn't sure what his friends would make of the whole IceWing situation, and didn't feel like explaining the intricacies of his tribe's corrupt government. He also couldn't speak of Icicle. That was not his secret to share._

_He settled for the most boring explanation possible: "There was a rebellion in the Ice Kingdom, and some rebels moved here to work with the Talons, but so far it's been pretty peaceful." He glanced around at their busy, colorful surroundings. "I like it here. You don't get your head cut off for bowing wrong, so that's a plus."_

_"Riptide showed us around your Scavenger Sanctuary," said Moon, "back when you were still at the palace. We loved it."_

_"Yeah, it was amazing," Qibli agreed. "Those little guys were sure scared of Moon, though. Must have thought the stars were falling when she landed!" He flashed Moon a blazing smile, some reference to a shiny new inside joke, and she giggled._

_Winter looked away._

_The sunlight was blinding when they took to the skies. Music and laughter blared. Masked dragons flew in loops and circles, dancing through the perfect blue morning. Some waved banners, or flashed bright patterns painted on their wings. Flower petals fell as parade-goers threw them, and sweet smoke rose up from the ceremonial pyres below._

_Clumsy as ever, Winter did his best to dance along. He kept his wings close to avoid knocking anyone out of the sky. Moon seemed similarly shy. Qibli, though, knew the steps to every dance and flapped around with more than enough enthusiasm for everyone. Eventually Moon worked up the nerve to fly with Qibli, and they danced as a pair, fumbling and grinning and messing up in all the sweetest ways._

_Winter was, inevitably, left alone._

_So he danced on by himself, and tried not to stare, and enjoyed what he could._

_He did feel a pang whenever Qibli and Moon shared those fiery smiles, and his heart did squeeze when the sound of a familiar song, one of the ballads he'd heard in the similarly busy skies of Possibility, reminded him of what might have been._

_But for the most part, he was happy, because that was how he knew he ought to feel. He tried to let go. To learn the new dances and sing along to the new songs. He smiled as he flew, and told himself he was free._

_It was perfect. It would have been perfect._

_If only they'd left it at that._

_Three moons, what Winter wouldn't give to turn back time and leave it at that._

* * *

_Then came that long and lonely night, when everything fell apart. When their thin, imperfect peace finally shattered._

_When Moon showed up at his door._ _Alone._

_Hailstorm had gone out on some errand (Winter guessed he was just wandering around town again), Fatespeaker and Riptide had gotten tied up with their other duties, and who knew where Qibli had flown off to, so Winter was sitting alone at home, flipping through his scavenger sketches._

_Then there she was, silhouetted by stars, her silver scales shining with the light of two almost-full moons._

_"_ _Hey," she said. "I, um... I thought I'd stop by."_

_What was Winter supposed to say to that?_

_He grabbed his piece of skyfire from their makeshift shelf, though of course, by that time, Moon had probably already seen all the worries in his head. It was about dinnertime, so he also got out some dried meat and the last cask of the SeaWing wine that Riptide had gifted them._

_Moon looked at him oddly, perhaps wondering why his thoughts had been full of horrible nightmares about Lynx, and accepted his offer to stay and eat. Winter sure would have liked to know what was going on in_ her _head as she sat there staring at him._

_They exchanged pleasantries for a while. No explanation for why she'd decided to fly out here and have dinner alone with him. Clearly she wanted to fix things, and Winter did too, so at least this was a start._

_"So," Winter said tentatively, "nice evening for flying, right? I, uh, usually go hunting around this time." He glanced at the window, where some stars could be seen twinkling meekly. "Or to the Scavenger Sanctuary. Or sometimes we have guests over." When he looked to Moon again, she, too, was staring out at the stars, her gaze a million miles away. "It looks lovely out there."_

_Moon nodded. "Yeah."_

_A long pause stretched between them, wide and turbulent as the sea._

_"Winter," she finally said, "I just wanted to say sorry again, and..." She trailed off, her gaze growing distant, and shook her head. "I've missed you, Winter."_

_Here they were, flying in circles. Retreading the same ground. Making and breaking their stupid, silent little truce over and over again._

_Then Moon spread her starry wings and said, "And I do... I did love you. I think I still love you, in some way." She gulped. "I just wanted to say that."_

_Winter froze._

_She might as well have just blasted him with fire or bit him to the bone._

_Winter tried to stay kind and understanding. He really did. But every second of her staring at him like that felt like having his scales pulled off. "What in the stars does that mean?"_

_Moon cringed, her wings folding around herself as she shrunk away. "I don't know."_

_Something sick and painful twisted inside Winter. Unhealed wounds. Unsaid words. All those things he had frozen away for the sake of their fragile friendship._

_"No, seriously, what?" Winter couldn't keep the fake smiles up any longer. His mask broke, and the truth tore its way out. "I don't understand. I really don't. You avoid me for a year, send one letter, say 'hi' once, and now you're telling me..._ this _." As hard as he tried to stay calm, his words still came out as a snarl. "You'll tell me_ this _, but not what happened back at Jade Mountain? Not what happened to all of our friends and fate of the moonsforsaken world?" Ice rose in his throat, turning his voice raw. "Seriously?"_

_Moon turned away, her face full of guilt._

_No amount of skyfire in the world could hide all the hurt that hummed between them._

_Winter went on, "I'm sorry for everything I did, Moon. I was a bad friend. That was wrong."_ _He sucked in a breath, his icy frill rising._ _Suddenly he didn't care about fixing things. Not if Moon clearly didn't._ _"But this..." he choked out, "this is crazy. This is going to drive me mad. Whatever_ this _is -"_ Because it sure as snow isn't a real friendship. _"- I can't do it."_

_"I -" Moon reached for him, then pulled away. In a small, shaking voice that broke his heart again, she said, "I'll go."_

_Then she did so, stumbling back out into the night, leaving Winter alone with the maddening mess of this memory._

_The scene played out over and over again in his head, and still it never made sense. His questions stayed unanswered. Moon stayed sad and distant as ever. And his heart stayed shattered by the horrible possibility that maybe this was where their friendship had always been headed._

_A dead end. Broken. Lightless. Inevitable._

* * *

But it was time to put that in the past.

Today, Winter did his best to distract himself with the one thing that was more confusing and infuriating than his own heart: IceWing politics.

As he flew back home from the Scavenger Sanctuary, he stopped by the IceWing quarter to pick up the latest scrolls and pamphlets. Cheers and chants followed him now. It was slightly embarrassing, but a lot better than getting attacked. The royalist sections did not receive him so warmly. He made it back alive, though, and with a big stack of news in tow.

The news from the Roses was mixed, but hopeful. Apparently many rebel groups had started inviting other tribes to their meetings, networking to raise awareness about the upcoming Conference of Circles. _Snowfall can't back out of it now_ , Winter thought with satisfaction. _All of Pyrrhia knows what's going on._

He was surprised to learn how many different factions had already formed here in Sanctuary. Some rebels wanted the Circles to end, others just hoped for slightly fairer laws. Some sought to see Snowfall dethroned, others merely asked for a better Council. It was starting to seem like their hatred for the current Ice Kingdom was the only thing they could agree on.

 _Well, that's one place to start_ , Winter told himself, trying to stay hopeful. _Nothing gets IceWings going like_ hatred _, right?_

Riptide stopped by for lunch, bringing fresh seafood and news from the Talons. He was also thankfully Squid-less. "I made him hang out with Fatespeaker and Kinkajou at the Scribe School," he explained, sounding relieved. "He won't shut his snout about his date with that SeaWing countess. I figured if there's anyone who actually _wants_ to talk about that all day, it's Fatespeaker and Kinkajou."

Winter grabbed a mackerel, inviting Riptide to sit with a flap of his wings. "So what's up with the Talons?" he asked "Are they in favor of the Revolution?"

"We're getting there," Riptide replied. "Obviously Nautilus thinks we should announce our support. Some of the other leaders are more cautious, though. They want to wait until Thorn or Ruby take action first." He ruefully thumped his tail. "They need a queen on their side. Typical." He paused and winced. "It wouldn't hurt if you IceWings were a little more... friendly."

"A friendly IceWing?" Winter snorted. "That's a myth." He held back a sigh and tried to stay hopeful. "We've heard some good things from the Ice Kingdom. Maybe that will encourage them to help."

He looked over at Hailstorm, who was deciphering Lynx's latest message from the IceWing Palace.

Lynx now sent letters through a secret team. Apparently she had quite a few guards on her side now, which helped ease a tiny bit of Winter's anxiety. Each message she sent was also encoded with a double cipher of letters and numbers. Hailstorm was usually the one to decode these, since Winter's math skills were terrible. Lynx knew this, and probably had a good laugh every time she changed her code.

"Have you decoded that letter from Lynx yet?" asked Winter.

"Almost," answered Hailstorm, his crest of spikes raised intently as he scratched out something on his scroll. He scanned the words that he had already deciphered. "Don't worry, she says she's safe. Frustrated as frost with all of Snowfall's idiocy, but safe."

 _Thank the moons_ , thought Winter, silently relieved.

Glancing down at Hailstorm's work, Riptide let out a whistle of approval. "Is that a Serpent-Switch cipher?" He smiled proudly. "The Talons used those during the War. Blister herself couldn't crack ours."

 _Until the Talons started conspiring with her_ , Winter thought scathingly, but it would do them no good to point that out now. He looked to Hailstorm again and asked, "Any sign of Boreal?"

Hailstorm shook his head. "Lynx's last letter said she freed some dragons from the dungeons and fled with them to the mountains. No sign of them since. Maybe they're starting a provincial rebellion?"

"Huh." Winter sighed. "I really thought she would join us. So many other IceWings are already here."

"Boreal? Who's that?" asked Riptide, frowning.

"She's the dragon I sent here with those historical papers," Winter explained. "Don't you remember?"

Riptide shook his head. "No, that dragon said her name was Summit. Short, wide wings, green eyes, right?"

Now Winter frowned. Boreal had gray eyes, and wasn't particularly short. Plus, it was hard to forget that storm of dragon.

"Oh, I think she said Boreal was the one who sent her," Riptide went on, his wings lighting up with Aquatic as he remembered. "Your friend probably just got tired and sent the papers with another dragon. That would explain how they got here so fast."

But Boreal had seemed utterly exhausted when she returned to the palace. If she hadn't flown out to Sanctuary, then what had she been doing? Where had she gone, and why didn't she tell them?

And what in the world was she planning now?

Winter tried to shake off his suspicions. "Yeah," he said. "That must be it."

* * *

When Hailstorm finally passed him the decoded message, Winter could barely hide his rush of excitement. He stood by the window to read it, suddenly grateful for the piercing glare of the sunlight. Even now, with all these miles between them, Lynx was helping him see the good in the world.

The message was brief, as all of Lynx's letters had to be. But it was enough.

_My dear friends,_

_Everything seems to be working. Snowfall agreed to let me speak with her Council. Though I couldn't show any real support for the rebels, I did my best to steer them in the right direction. Snowfall wants to pick out all of the representatives for the Conference of Circles, but a lot of the Council is in support of letting the tribe vote. I'll see what I can do to sway them._

_I've let some of my fellow nobles in on the plan. Their names are Eider and Squirrel. I'll speak to more guards once I know who I can trust. If worst comes to worst, we can all stand together._

_Pasque has sent word that our mutual "friend" arrived safely. She may have attacked a couple dragonets that she mistook for assassins. It's okay - everyone survived!_

_My cousin Moraine said that the commoners in the south have seen a lot of unrest lately. Any idea what's going on? If Snowfall has been sending her forces down there, then she hasn't told me about it._

_The palace itself is still quite peaceful. We had to tighten security, especially after Boreal broke those rebel prisoners out, but its been pretty calm since then. All of the outspoken revolutionaries fled to the provinces or Sanctuary. Our allies here know to stay quiet. We've been holding secret meetings, and as far as I know, Snowfall doesn't suspect a thing._

_Please don't worry about me. Stay safe!_

_Lynx_

After glancing up to make sure Hailstorm wasn't looking, Winter quietly pressed the letter to his heart. He would have to destroy it soon; another precaution to protect Lynx's safety. For now, though, he could reread it and smile.

* * *

Fatespeaker showed up the next day with the news and the mail. Usually it was Riptide who did that, but apparently the SeaWing had gotten involved in an "eel-related scuffle".

Before Winter could ask for details, Fatespeaker passed him a narrow, banged-up scroll and said, "Check this out! Another letter from Lynx."

 _Another one already?_ That must mean something big. Something very good or very bad. _Relax, relax_ , Winter tried to tell himself. _She sent this, so at least she's alive._

Still, Winter's heart and stomach both fluttered, making him doubly sick. "Oh..." He tried, and failed, to hide his excitement and fear. "Thanks. Thank you. Uh, do you want some breakfast?" He stepped aside to let her in, his talons shaking as he already fumbled to open the scroll. "Thanks again."

The scroll, like all of Lynx's coded letters, was addressed to her distant cousin Moraine and had a random, boring story to cover up its secret message. Winter carefully unrolled the scroll and picked apart the two layers of parchment that had been pasted together. Sandwiched in between was Lynx's real letter, written faintly in numbers that would have to be decoded.

Winter was relieved to see no signs of tampering. If Snowfall ever found out her Head Guard was communicating with rebels... That was the stuff of Winter's nightmares.

As Hailstorm and Fatespeaker shared some leftover buffalo-rolls and talked about the Sun Festival, Winter skimmed over Lynx's fake story in a daze. He knew it was all nonsense, just a funny anecdote about seal-hunting with the other guards. But simply seeing her writing filled him with relief. _She's_ safe _. Still stuck in that puddle of a palace, but safe._

"Glory agreed to let Hailstorm come back to the Rainforest Kingdom with me!" Fatespeaker cheerfully told him between bites of buffalo. "He's gonna _love_ it there. I can't wait!"

Winter winced. "Make sure he doesn't get strangled by a hammock or anything."

Fatespeaker laughed, but Winter couldn't help worrying about his brother. Hailstorm had finally started to settle into Sanctuary. Wouldn't flying off to a foreign kingdom just uproot and upset him again? _It's for the good of the revolution_ , Winter reminded himself. Hailstorm had seemed pretty determined, anyway. _Maybe he does need an quest of his own. Who knows?_

Winter's older brother had always been a bit quiet and cold - a curse that their whole family shared. For every moment of understanding that passed between them, there were a thousand other things that Winter couldn't comprehend.

"I foresee a lot of fruit and fun in his future," Fatespeaker said, flipping into her dreamy prophecy voice. "What an adventure."

Winter could never tell whether she was joking or not. Truth be told, all he foresaw in Hailstorm's future was a _very_ long and arduous flight with Fatespeaker, but he kept that to himself and nodded politely as his friend gabbed on.

* * *

_My dear friends,_

_Great news!_ _Snowfall has agreed to let the tribe vote on its representatives. Each circle will get to elect their own dragons._

 _Once I convinced the Council to support the vote, Snowfall changed her mind on it too._ _I'll have to lay low now, since she knows I spoke to the council dragons. But I think this was worth it. What a big win!_

_The Conference is scheduled for the winter solstice. Nobles in the north are already preparing. A lot of them are sympathetic; they know things have to change. It seems like they're cooperating with the commoners._

_I've heard more from the south, too. Apparently the provincial nobles have been arming themselves in response to some peasant threat. Any idea what that's about?_

_Snowfall is sending soldiers down to the mountains. She hasn't told me her exact plans, and I don't want to risk prodding her, especially after that last decision. It would seem too suspicious. I'll see if I can find out more through my connections. Make sure the rebels over there know something is up._

_Winter, we heard about your speech to the Talons and Roses. Snowfall has banned all revolutionary papers, but copies of it are spreading anyway. I may have convinced the guards to look the other way when they catch dragons with them._

_It's such a relief to know that we have support out there in Sanctuary. You've really given us some hope here. Thank you._

_Here's to that Conference of Circles. Let's hope the ice stays clear!_

_Lynx_

* * *

Since Hailstorm would soon be off to the wild, humid world of the Rainforest, Winter now had to learn how to decode messages from Lynx and the Talons. That would become another duty of his once he was left alone in Sanctuary.

Unless, of course, he annoyed Hailstorm enough for his brother to freeze him to death. After two hours of lessons, that was looking like a very real possibility.

They sat inside with a stack of encoded writing samples and a lot of wine, both brothers growing steadily more ink-stained and frustrated as the torturously hot day wore on.

"There," said Hailstorm, pointing at Winter's notes. "That's where you messed up. The code changes halfway through. See, I marked it here." He tapped a tiny dash on the scroll, the same sign Lynx and Riptide used in their secret letters. "You have to flip the key word around and use that instead."

Winter wanted to bang his snout into the ground. "You said there were only two steps."

"That's part of the first step." Hailstorm frowned. "Hmm. I suppose that makes it two and a half steps."

Winter growled and went back to work, swapping out numbers for letters according to the amended key. Who knew that deadly subterfuge against an evil monarchy could be so _boring_?

Eventually Winter was able to work his way through the practice letter. It turned out to be a random grocery list, mostly SandWing foods, which he'd seen around Sanctuary. He wondered where Hailstorm had picked up on all the different words, as even Winter didn't recognize some of the strange spices.

"Well," said Hailstorm, finally standing to stretch his wings, "if you can decode _that_ , then you should be just fine. I doubt Lynx will throw anything harder at you." He glanced out their window. "And look, it only took a whole day."

"Thanks," growled Winter.

They had both gone hunting earlier, so dinner was quick and light.

Hailstorm was became quiet and glum as they ate. Winter chalked it up to either boredom or another bad meal of crocodile meat. He stuck to his usual response of falling just as quiet and glum. As the meal wore on in silence, he pulled out some letters from the Talons and started going through them at the table. Now that Icicle was gone, nobody would bite him for "breaking etiquette".

Then Hailstorm grabbed their jug of MudWing rum, gulped down a full cup, and stared at the wall with the lonely, angry eyes of a strangled animal. That was when Winter realized something else was wrong.

"Winter," Hailstorm said, "before I leave for the Rainforest, there's something..."

Winter set down his letters, and waited while his brother collected himself.

"It's just, uh, about the future, about _my_ future. The life I want to lead, and with _whom_ and..." Hailstorm stopped and frowned, looking deeply uncomfortable. "I've been thinking a bit, about myself, about who I am, I guess, and I..." He stopped again and shuffled his talons, scratching at the red sand. "I'm confused. Yes. Never mind. Three moons, I've been confused for a while now, haven't I?" He sighed. "Forget it."

Winter had a suspicion about what Hailstorm was trying to tell him. That kind of a secret was a deadly thing in the Ice Kingdom. Winter couldn't imagine carrying that weight on his own wings, especially back when Hailstorm had been the perfect poster dragonet of the First Circle. And yet, as much as Winter wanted to help, he had no idea what to say.

He _wanted_ to say that coming out was fine, that dragons of the same gender got married all the time in Sanctuary. Winter's own crush on Moon had been more scandalous than any of those couples. The rest of the world had moved on from the IceWings' archaic rules, and he hoped his brother could fly free now. However, Winter didn't want to force Hailstorm into yet another stressful situation. The moons knew they'd both been through quite enough of those.

It was a difficult line to walk; if Hailstorm didn't feel safe yet, then Winter wasn't going to shove him into that blizzard. But there had to be _something_ he could say.

"Hey," he said, "guess what Riptide heard from the Sea Kingdom? Apparently Anemone and Tamarin are together now. They danced at the SeaWing court and everything." He shrugged his wings. "Obviously everyone knew they were in love, but it took some time."

Hailstorm blinked, then nodded. "Oh, yes, that's wonderful."

They said nothing else about it, but relief shined in Hailstorm's eyes. Winter hoped that when his elder brother was ready, they would be able to finish that talk.

 _It's just us now,_ he thought. _Well, us and Icicle, but she probably sees me as more of an unfortunate ally than a brother. What a fun family._

"I might head out tonight," Hailstorm added, "just to fly a bit, with a friend."

 _A friend?_ Hailstorm didn't have many of those, at least not in Sanctuary. Winter figured that was Fatespeaker. She would probably talk Hailstorm's ears off about all about the wonders of the Rainforest Kingdom. The NightWing loved that place.

It occurred to Winter, with a cold, sudden pang, that once Hailstorm left for the Rainforest, their family would all be split up again. Scattered to the winds. Still, he was happy that his brother was moving on and exploring the world. Or he knew that he _should_ be happy. And if he knew he was supposed to be happy, and acted like he was happy, then that was basically the same thing, right?

"That's great," Winter said. "The weather looks perfect." He forced a smile, and told himself to be happy, and felt lonelier than ever.

* * *

Two of the moons were full tonight.

Of course he thought of _her_.

And then, as if summoned by their silvery shine, there she was again.

Winter almost thought he was dreaming, then _wished_ that he was dreaming, because then, at least, he wouldn't have the chance to frost up their friendship even further. But of course he let her in, his skyfire gripped tight, and of course he tried to hide all the horrible hurt inside of him.

"I'm sorry," said Moon. "Can we... can we please just forget about everything I said. I didn't mean..." Her tail lashed and her wings twitched as if against a trap. "I know shouldn't have left you in the dark about everything." Soft and shy as ever, she begged, "Let's just forget that, _please_."

She gazed at him mournfully, her green eyes wide and sad, perhaps offering some secret, silent truce.

But Winter was sick of deciphering things.

All this dancing around the truth had only made things worse. Both of them knew they could never just _forget_. It was time to stop pretending. Time to speak plainly. He felt a cold squeeze in his gut. At first, he thought it was anger, but he'd let go of that long ago. It was something darker, some sort of bitter sorrow, like the empty aftermath of storm.

"You know what?" Winter said, heartbrokenly calm. "I don't care what happened. Really, it doesn't matter, so long as Pyrrhia is safe..." Moon's head bowed, and her wings drooped, but Winter kept going. "What hurts, Moon, is that you just _left_. All of you. Without even a word. I never asked to know what you did back there. I don't need to know. That's okay." He looked her in the eye and said, defeatedly, "I just want to know _why_. Why didn't you trust me?"

Moon's gaze flitted over the skyfire in Winter's talons, and he wondered if the same question of trust was echoing in her head.

"Winter, _I'm sorry_ ," she said again, her voice rising sharply. "I just... I had a new life after that, and... "

Winter nodded, a sharp sadness creeping into him like frostbite. "And I wasn't part of it."

"That's not -" Moon started.

"It's fine," he said, very much not fine, "I understand."

"That's not what I meant!" Moon burst out.

Winter stepped back.

"Will you let me explain?!" cried Moon. "Please, will you let me _try_ to explain?"

Falling silent, Winter nodded.

"Qibli and I, we had this new life, and we were scared..." She paused and shuffled her starry wings. " _I_ was scared that something, anything, would happen and... and ruin it all. That's why I didn't tell you. I didn't want anything to change."

Winter said nothing.

Moon gulped, then went on, finally loud and angry and honest, "And yeah, I was scared how you'd react. Because I knew you cared about me, and I knew you hated Darkstalker, and - and - and why _wouldn't_ you want to go out and get revenge? Three moons, for so long, _I_ wanted revenge. I'm still... I don't..." She trailed off and heaved a frustrated sigh, her eyes shining with tears.

As he started to put the pieces together, a realization dawned on Winter. "He's still alive." He froze. "Darkstalker is still alive."

Fear filled Moon's face, and Winter stopped. If she wanted to lie, and keep him in the dark, then he would have to accept that, because he still couldn't bear to see her scared. Especially not scared of him.

Moon took in a deep breath, and was quiet for a while. Winter let her think. Then she nodded to herself and met his gaze.

"Yes," she said. "We enchanted him. Kinkajou tricked him into taking this... this strawberry with a spell on it. It's a long story." She cracked a terribly awkward smile. "The magic worked, though. He's a different dragon now. A dragonet. No memories of his life and powers at all." Now she turned away, her voice back to barely a whisper. "That's it. That's the truth."

All Winter could say was, "So Pyrrhia's safe."

She nodded. "Of course."

Winter let out a deep breath he couldn't recall holding in. "Okay." Was he supposed to be angry now? Relieved? Sad? Triumphant? "Thanks," he said lamely, which felt like the worst response of all.

Thank the moons she couldn't read his thoughts now. They were such a toxic mix of self-loathing and normal loathing and half-processed grief that Moon probably would have thought he was crazy. Maybe he _was_ crazy. Was honesty and forgiveness supposed to feel this awful?

Then he breathed in, felt a cool rush inside, and calmed down enough to realize...

It was time to stop telling himself how he was _supposed_ to feel.

 _Moon._ In some ways, she had wronged him, and though he had already forgiven her, he knew that somewhere, deep inside, he would always be a bit suspicious and hurt. Perhaps she felt the same way about him. He had wronged her, after all, back when he had been hateful and thoughtless and angry with the world. Now matter how many times they tried to make amends, nothing was going to change that. Could they live with that past? Could they fly forward as friends?

 _Maybe if we're both willing_ , thought Winter. _If we can meet each other halfway._

He looked to her and dared to hope.

They both stared, blue eyes to green, a thousand unsaid apologies and pardons pressed into their two sad smiles. No magic was necessary to read each other now. They'd said _sorry_ far too many times already, always too loudly, never sincerely. This time it was silent and true.

"We've been pretty bad at this friendship thing, huh?" murmured Moon.

"Yeah." Winter looked down. "Three moons, we're downright disasters."

Then he laughed. Still a sad laugh, but not bitter anymore. Moon joined in with a tiny, awkward giggle of her own. It was a rare thing, and they treasured it.

"Do you..." Moon studied him, her emerald eyes quietly searching for something. "Do you want to keep trying, though?"

"Well." Winter glanced aside wryly. "Well, I've always been a disaster, so why not? Sure."

Moon laughed. Fully this time. Then she smiled and said, "You're not, you know."

Winter shrugged.

"Winter," Moon said solemnly, "you are one of the best dragons I know. You're _not_ a disaster."

She paused, peering out the window, silver light dancing over her scales. Winter couldn't help recalling how he had once loved her. He loved her still, in a different way now. That old, passionate longing had turned into a chilly breeze of a memory, one he had to brace his wings against, but that he knew he would never fly back to. He had made his peace with that, and looked forward to their future as friends. Because if friendship was just as messy as romance, it was also just as worthwhile.

"There was something I wanted to show you," said Moon. "Could we... do you still...?"

He nodded. She smiled. Then, together, they went wordlessly out into the night.

* * *

Winter heard distant singing as they flew over Sanctuary. The rest of town was celebrating the two full moons, all the different tribes' traditions merging in their shared love of moonlight. Winter gazed down at the torchlit streets. It was humbling to know that while all of his own drama had been playing out, the rest of the world had gone on with its joyous songs.

He was surprised when Moon led him toward his own Scavenger Sanctuary. She landed in the same glen that Kinkajou had been poking around in, her wingbeats soft and her talons careful. Winter watched in wonder as she gently nudged open one of the tiny scavenger forts. There were apparently no scavengers inside, as none ran out screaming, but something in there had caught Moon's eye.

She stepped out of the way, allowing Winter to peer inside, and by the soft light of the moons, he saw it. Something lovely and new, hidden right in plain sight. Something that he had missed.

Nestled inside the primitive-looking scavenger den was a collection of paintings and figures. They were tiny compared to dragon artwork, and of a completely different style, but still undeniably, beautifully _art_. Statues carved from wood and stone, almost the size of the little artists themselves, clearly represented scavengers, birds, and even dragons. Colorful shapes danced across the painted walls. Glints of gold and silver shined in one corner, where the silver figure of a two-headed serpent coiled around a gilt statue of a scavenger.

Was this some sort of sacred place, a real scavenger altar? Were the little creatures smart enough to create exhibits for their art? What did it mean to them? Did they have words for it? Poetry? Legends? Winter's mind raced with a world of fascinating possibilities.

"Qibli spotted it earlier," Moon explained. "We both thought it was pretty cool."

"Pretty cool - ice and snow, this is a miracle, Moon!" Winter cried, grinning. "Wow! Real scavenger art!"

He sat back, his tail swishing excitedly, his wings still slack with amazement. Moon laughed and sat down beside him.

Here, the tall, tangled trees blocked most of the beautiful sky, shrouding both of them in shadow, with just a bit of silver peeking through. Winter didn't mind. He felt a soothing sense that this plain, perfect sliver of Sanctuary was right where both he and Moon belonged. This glimpse of moonlight was all they needed.

They were quiet now, finally sitting together as friends. They studied each other, without judgement, without fear, sharing a comfortable coolness. A much-needed moment of calm.

Then Moon screamed.

Moving on instinct, Winter caught her as she stumbled forward. Her sparkling wings thrashed like fish in a net and her shining eyes rolled back into her head. Winter threw his own wings around his friend to try and still her, desperate to keep her safe, all while doing his best to avoid getting skewered by her horns. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he already knew what was to come, and could already feel himself breaking inside. Still, he held Moon tight and hoped that he was wrong.

 _Please, no_ , he prayed to every stupid moon and star, _please, please, please, not now..._

But the sky showed no mercy. Moon began to chant.

_The rebel queen rises as the kingdom falls_   
_Shattering circles and tearing down walls_   
_The north wind will batter her banner and crown_   
_As one love is lost and another love found_

_Petals fall twice, the rose fractures and fades_   
_Cracks in the ice as her magic is made_   
_The bird cries betrayal, the white sky of woe_   
_The prince sings of sorrow and blood on the snow_

_History broken, the winter storm breaks_   
_A life for a life, and the new age awakes_

At the last word, Moon wilted, slumping to the dusty ground with a weak groan. Winter awkwardly helped her up. Though he was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, he did his best to support her, to hold her steady as she caught her breath.

"Was that... ?" Winter trailed off. He already knew, and he was already terrified.

Moon pulled away from him, her green eyes wild with a broken light. She looked at Winter like he was a ghost, though it was she who seemed silver and unreal in the glow of the blazing moons.

"Ice and snow," whispered Winter.

The shadows pressed in around them. The night grew suddenly cold. They stared at each other in stunned silence, the weight of their new destiny tumbling down.

Meanwhile, the summer stars sparkled blithely above, and the rest of Sanctuary sang on.


	4. Epilogue

**Letter: Lynx to Winter**

My dear friends,

Our plans are still on fresh snow! Now the Council is trying to figure out how to organize elections for the Conference. Each Circle will have to convene to vote, probably in late autumn.

Some dragons have argued that the commoners outside of the ranks should be given representatives too. A lot of the lower circles are sympathetic. I agree with them, I just don't know if I can risk speaking up about it. I'll see what I can do to help. Maybe I can publish an anonymous paper on it.

There's been unrest in the provinces over that debate. A few scuffles between peasants and nobles, especially down south. Nothing deadly, though.

Still, I think the sky ahead is clear. Our little team of rebel guards haven't been caught yet, so that's something to celebrate!

How has Sanctuary received the news? Are other tribes in support of the Conference of Circles? It's so hard to find real news here, now that Snowfall has arrested most of the real journalists. Even when I go through the guards' confiscated scrolls, I can't tell what's true and false anymore.

The palace has become a bit uneasy. Rumors of rebel spies and secret battle plans, that kind of stuff. But for the most part, things are still peaceful.

I think everyone, even the grumpiest courtiers and council dragons, has a bit more hope now. Hang in there.

Yours,  
 _Lynx_

* * *

**Letter: Winter to Lynx**

Dear Lynx,

I've got the safehouse to myself now. Hailstorm left for the Rainforest Kingdom yesterday. I didn't care for the place when I last visited, but that was a while ago. I think you'd love the flowers. I remember, you always said you wished there were more colors back at home.

We should visit one day, when all this madness with the circles and rebels has calmed down. As for Hailstorm, I just hope he can handle the humidity. He's got Fatespeaker looking out for him, so I'm not too worried.

Nautilus and Chill recently agreed to lead a mission to the Sky Kingdom. They're hoping that Queen Ruby will agree to ally herself with them now that Queen Thorn has spoken in support of the revolution. The SkyWing Prince Vermilion seems to be on our side. Riptide and Squid are also planning a trip to the Sea Kingdom. Queen Coral refuses to see any rebel representatives, but maybe she'll listen to them.

As for Sanctuary, things are getting a bit heated here. I'm sending one of the latest news-scrolls. It sums up the mood pretty well. I should warn you, the _Sanctuary Gazette_ has never been a friend of the Roses. They seem to hate all IceWings equally, though, so at least they aren't soft on the royalists.

Don't worry about sending letters if it isn't safe. The Talons and Roses appreciate the insider news, but if things get to dangerous, don't risk it.

Thanks again for everything.

Yours,  
 _Winter_

* * *

**Excerpt: From the _Sanctuary Gazette_**

TENSIONS RISE AS THE ICE KINGDOM SHIFTS

Despite recent rumors and unrest, Queen Snowfall of the IceWings has started to officially organize her tribe's Conference of Circles. As the Ice Kingdom's castes elect their "representatives" for the event, dragons all across Pyrrhia wonder what dangerous chain reaction the Conference could start.

Some say that this unprecedented gathering, the likes of which has not been seen since ancient times, could spell an end to the IceWing's absolute monarchy. Are other strict tribes, like the SeaWings and SkyWings, next on the list of rebellion?

Reports of rebel IceWing activity have risen throughout Sanctuary, as revolutionary IceWings push back against a new wave of royalists. Though both sides claim to be nonviolent, the bloody streets of Sanctuary tell a different story. In addition to last month's riot in the Summer Markets, at least three more fights have broken out, resulting in eleven IceWing deaths by frostbreath. Two more IceWings were slain last week by MudWing killers, whose motivations are not yet known.

IceWing rebel leader Chill has accused Queen Snowfall of sending undercover soldiers to Sanctuary to hunt down fugitives and incite violence. The IceWing monarch, who has consistently ignored all rebel demands, has not responded to this claim.

Many groups, such as the infamous Talons of Peace, have come to the defense of the violent rebels, claiming that their actions are a reasonable response to the royalist IceWings' attacks. According to one spokesdragon for a splinter group, the Roses of Peace, "we will freeze whoever comes between us and our freedom."

The dragons of Sanctuary are advised to stay away from these dangerous extremists.

* * *

**Letter: Icicle to Winter**

Dear Brother,

Greetings, Winter. My apologies for this letter's long delay. The Talons are terribly uncivilized and difficult to work with, but I have been assured this will reach Sanctuary securely.

I am doing well here with the peasants. Or as well as one can while living in an igloo. Some ridiculous young commoners tried to "prank" me last week, which naturally prompted me to defend myself. I was shocked that such behavior is accepted anywhere in our kingdom. These circleless dragons truly have a bizarre way of life.

Do not worry, though, I have since settled in. I do like freedom out here. These IceWings never worry about where they fly or who they are seen speaking to. The peasant dances are also quite fun, if a bit primitive.

Your acquaintance Pasque showed me around the village and assisted me in digging out a den. She has dubbed me "a promising pauper princess", whatever that means. I am confident that I can manage.

Please forward my other letter to Hailstorm, wherever he is now. I hope he is not still in that barbaric Rainforest. Do not bother trying to read it; I know you are too stupid to crack the cipher.

Your Sister,  
 _Icicle_

* * *

**Letter: Icicle to Hailstorm**

Dear Elder Brother,

Greetings, Hailstorm. I hope you are well. I did not expect to miss you, but I do.

I am safe now. It is very strange here. The commoners all seem to fear me, except for that old one, Pasque. It is frustrating, because I really have tried to learn their ways. Little as I love this sort of life, I know it's better than what our family had in the First Circle.

I've been thinking a lot about how we were raised, how all the freedom and kindness was hammered out of us. I fear I am a hard, heartless dragon now, and I don't know if that will ever change. I want to help our tribe, though, so maybe that means I do have some good in me.

I've also thought on what you said about our new duty. I understand now that we all have to change. I'm just not sure how. That was what I hoped to learn here. I haven't, yet, but I'm sure you are going to tell me to keep trying.

Truth be told, I've always envied you, for you seemed best suited out of all of us for the IceWing Palace. Now, whatever this "new world" we inhabit is, you and Winter still seem infinitely better at flying its winds. Don't pity me, though, for I've made my own stupid mistakes, and I see now that it is up to me to atone for them and mend myself. Maybe I can do some good as well.

I guess I will just keep trying.

Your Sister,  
 _Icicle_

* * *

**Letter: Hailstorm to Winter**

Dear Brother,

I am writing from the Rainforest. You were right; it is terribly wet here.

We stopped by Jade Mountain Academy on the way, where I met a few more dragons from your old "winglet". I was given a quick and highly entertaining tour. Kinkajou joined us there as well, presumably to help us on our way to the Rainforest Kingdom, though she seemed awfully keen on flirting with that SeaWing Prince Turtle.

A bit of unpleasantness followed my arrival in the Rainforest, as all the unrest in the Ice Kingdom has made noble IceWings (even disgraced ones such as ourselves) seem rather suspicious. I cannot blame Queen Glory for treating an outsider like myself with caution. Goodness knows our own tribe treats its outsiders worse. I was briefly arrested, but once Fatespeaker and Kinkajou vouched for me, all was well.

While the RainWings have, for the most part, welcomed me with open wings, the NightWings are a bit more touchy. Fatespeaker assures me this will change once she introduces me to all her friends. I am a bit more realistic, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to hope. I was floored by how well the RainWings and NightWings get along now. It really makes one wonder if the Ice Kingdom is harming itself with all this isolation.

Though Deathbringer still suspects me of being an IceWing spy, the RainWings he assigned to stalk me are actually quite nice. There is a bright pink one, I believe named Jam-boo? He gave me a mango yesterday, and seemed charming. Oddly bright, but charming.

He has asked me on a date, and I have accepted. I suppose that clears up the very thing I wanted to explain to you earlier. You know I am not an open scroll of a dragon, nor am I particularly daring. Us IceWings, in general, never get to be loud and proud about matters of the heart. But I have discovered myself, and I _am_ proud of that. I am ready to be honest with the world now.

I have also discovered that I am allergic to coconuts.

Please send the latest news on the revolution, if possible. All the rumors that reach the Rainforest are exaggerated scandals. I hope all is well there in Sanctuary. I do miss it sometimes, for it is a lovely town, but rest assured I am happy here.

Thank you for sending Icicle's letter. It is a great comfort to know she is safe.

Sincerely,  
 _Hailstorm_

* * *

**Letter: Winter to Hailstorm**

Dear Hailstorm,

We're flying fine here in Sanctuary, though there is a bit of unrest. A lot more IceWing refugees have arrived since you left, and the rebels are more divided than ever. Unfortunately, there's been a big rise in royalists who want to freeze the wings off anyone who even suggests deposing Snowfall.

Chill and her faction of Roses have started their own news-scroll, the _Revolutionary Rose_ , in response. I'll send a copy of their latest issue. I've agreed to help them write articles. I'm sure Fatespeaker will be thrilled to know I'm now a fellow reporter. We've already got a big following here in Sanctuary, so hopefully this can help calm things down... though I must say, some of Chill's followers don't seem very interested in peace.

Nautilus said he can distribute them in Possibility as well, where his branch of the Talons of Peace is based. Riptide and Squid are in the Sea Kingdom at the moment, explaining the revolution to the SeaWing court. I'm a little worried, as Riptide has about a million enemies there, but Tsunami has promised to protect him. You must have met her at Jade Mountain Academy. No one will mess with that princess.

Lynx's news from the Ice Kingdom has been pretty positive so far - apparently Snowfall is cooperating with the Council. The Conference of Circles is really happening. There are even rumors that Snowfall will allow dragons _outside_ of the circles to speak, though Lynx can't confirm or deny those.

I'm sorry we never really got to sit down and talk things out, Hailstorm. I know our family is a bit of a burning heap of waste right now, and I really don't see that changing any time soon. But I trust you. I hope you trust me.

I don't think I ever thanked you for supporting me, way back when I first returned to the Ice Kingdom. Three moons, that seems like centuries ago now. I was so angry and frightened - and great stars, was I a jerk - but you were there for me anyway, and I am grateful for that.

I'll always be here for you.

Your brother,  
 _Winter_

* * *

**Excerpt: From the _Revolutionary Rose_ Paper**

Fellow IceWings.

Recently, ice and fear have swept through Sanctuary. This town we once loved as our second home has been divided by hate.

Your fellow rebels entreat you not to spread this hatred. Far too many lives have already been lost to the tyranny of our kingdom. We must ensure that our revolution does not end up just as bloody and cruel.

Every IceWing deserves a voice. Let us disagree peacefully. Let us settle our differences through civil debate. We must end the petty in-fights and grudges, before we come undone.

Pyrrhia watches us with a cold, careful eye. Already, we are accused of wicked schemes. Our fight for freedom is labelled suspicious. Our goal of peaceful revolution is portrayed as anarchy.

But take heart, IceWings. Every day, our movement grows. The more we speak out about our true motives, the more dragons will come to our aid. Dragons from every kingdom, including our former home, know in their souls we are right.

One anonymous source from the Ice Kingdom (rumored to be a noble from the palace itself) has come to our defense: "There are far more revolutionaries here than Snowfall suspects, some right under her snout. Though we hope for peace, we will join the fight if me must. All IceWings deserve a chance at a better life."

We are not alone. Fly together, fellow IceWings, and we are sure to win.

* * *

**Letter: Riptide to Winter**

Heads up, Winter - Squid and I are flying back to the Sand Kingdom. We didn't get a warm welcome from the SeaWing court. I should have known the Talons weren't really trusted there. Squid's mishap with Queen Coral's enchanted paperweight collection (long story) didn't help either. We aren't exactly banished, but we really have to splash out of here. We're going to consult with Queen Thorn now. Hopefully her paperweights aren't cursed.

_Riptide_

* * *

**Letter: Tsunami to Riptide**

Hey, Riptide, how's it been? I'm not good at letters, so I'll cut to the chase here - Anemone says that Coral has been receiving IceWing diplomats in secret. No idea who they are, or what they're offering her, but let's be real, Snowfall's got a lot of stuff the Sea Kingdom needs. I think we all know which side of this thing my mom is gonna choose.

Turtle has also heard strange things from the SeaWing Council. They seem to know a lot more about the Talons of Peace than you thought. Are you SURE there are no spies hanging out there? Who has the info about your meetings with the Roses? Because someone is slithering back to the Sea Kingdom with it.

Be careful.

Destroy this.

_Tsunami_

* * *

**Letter: Hailstorm to Winter**

Dear Brother,

This visit of mine is quite interesting! Today I went to watch the RainWing sports, including venom-spitting and treetop gliding. Very strange, but also quite fun. Everyone seemed so free, as if the competition didn't matter to them. I wonder, now, if our own tribe might be benefited by similar customs. I doubt any First Circlers would participate in any game that did not end in disembowelment, but one can hope.

I have also learned a bit more about the RainWing/NightWing government. The RainWings' peaceful method of selecting queens intrigues me. I have taken thorough notes, which I will bring back when I return.

Jambu and I went mango-picking again this last week. He also attempted to teach me dart-shooting, but my aim is frankly hopeless. Apparently this is how RainWings go on dates. I was a bit surprised by this, as eating fruit together seemed like an awful casual way to start a courtship, but it was fun, so I cannot complain. It beats a formal IceWing proposal, doesn't it?

Anyway, I fear I committed a terrible misstep by trying to eat a sloth. Fatespeaker warned me about this, but I mixed up the blasted things with monkeys (which, apparently, one _can_ eat?) - these RainWing rules are so confusing! Luckily, Jambu was understanding. He confided that he is now not too fond of the sloths either. He thinks one ate his roof while he was napping. How any dragon can sleep long enough for a sloth to eat his whole roof, I still don't know, but Jambu seemed very distressed.

On a more positive note, I have made another friend! Her name is Fierceteeth - a NightWing, if you can believe it. Despite our _many_ differences, and the fact that she tried to burn me when I first bumped into her, we have discovered a strange sense of kinship. Apparently she was transfigured into another dragon by Darkstalker, the same way I was trapped during the SandWing War. It was oddly comforting to find someone else who knows what that feels like. All this time I thought I was alone. I think Fierceteeth was similarly sad, though of course she'd never admit that.

We are also both traitors to our tribes, which she seems to take much pride in. We've talked a bit about monarchies and change. Though I can't say I agree with her current "kill all queens" stance, I appreciate her passion. Her boyfriend Strongwings threatened to skin me alive, but I believe such sayings are NightWing jokes. Or should I be concerned?

Thank you for the news from Sanctuary. Do let me know if the Talons and Roses need help. As much as I have come to love the Rainforest, I will return on the swiftest wind if my fellow IceWings need me.

Sincerely,  
Hailstorm

* * *

**Letter: Winter to Hailstorm**

Dear Hailstorm,

Things have calmed down here now. Thank the moons. I think that news-scroll worked.

The Roses all send their best wishes. They think you're a hero for braving the "crazy land of the RainWings". Obviously they've got a lot to learn about other cultures, but a least you've got some new fans.

We've been working on reaching out to other tribes now. I had to give a whole lecture on how SandWing manners work. Riptide and Squid were received pretty well in Possibility, so Nautilus and Chill are going to send a group of rebels there. I just hope nobody ends up getting their snouts snapped off for a faux pas.

Moon and Qibli are heading back to Jade Mountain Academy soon. They promised to stop by the Sand Kingdom on the way and consult with Qibli's friends there. Apparently Riptide and Queen Thorn were able to reach some sort of agreement. I'll write again once I get the details.

The Scavenger Sanctuary is going great, by the way. I recently discovered that some scavengers know how to use swords! Very exciting. Maybe I can get some of the rebels in on the research.

Don't worry about us here. It seems that things are finally headed in the right direction.

Your brother,  
 _Winter_

(P.S. That does NOT sound like a NightWing joke. Please be very concerned.)

* * *

**Excerpt: From the _Jade Mountain Weekly_**

Much has been written about the current IceWing conflict. Unfortunately, the truth has become more muddled than ever.

Other tribes may rest assured that these revolutionaries pose no threat to their own kingdoms. "Our fight is with the Circles," writes rebel leader Chill, a former Sixth Circle IceWing. "Those who grew up outside the Ice Kingdom may not understand - it's brutal there. This is our only hope for a fair future."

Rebels in Sanctuary, Possibility, and even the Ice Kingdom's own provinces have now requested the right to speak in the upcoming Conference of Circles. Queen Snowfall, who is currently organizing elections for the Conference, has not responded. Despite earlier conflicts between rebels and royalists in Sanctuary, this new debate remains peaceful.

"We don't want bloodshed," says one interviewee, "we just want to be allowed to participate. We will respect and obey our queen so long as she respects our right to free speech."

In an effort to encourage peaceful dialogue, Jade Mountain Academy will be welcoming dragons from the Talons of Peace and Winter Roses for a friendly discussion. As staunch supporters of freedom and equality, the school's founders have now voiced their support for the IceWing rebel cause.

* * *

**Letter: Fatespeaker to Winter**

Dear Winter,

I've asked Fruit Bat to deliver this letter along with the latest _Jade Mountain Weekly_. Hopefully she doesn't get sidetracked by cactus-collecting again. I love that RainWing, but you know how she is with plants! Hey, maybe you should show her around the new Sanctuary gardens.

Anyway, I'm just writing to say that I'll be back at Jade Mountain soon. We've invited some representatives for the Talons and Roses, and I've gotta make sure everything goes smoothly. We're gonna plan a big welcome banquet and dance. Hopefully they like ham!

Hailstorm said he wants to stay in the Rainforest a bit longer. He's living with Glory's brother Jambu now. I think he'll be okay - he seems to really like it here. I even caught him joining in on "sun time" last week, like a real RainWing. (Don't tell him I told you that!)

Things are going well now in Sanctuary, right? Clay and Peril just visited the Mud Kingdom, and they said a lot of MudWings there are really supportive of the revolution! That might just be because they're scared of Queen Snowfall, but it's gotta count for something, right?

Why didn't you tell me you're a REPORTER now?! We're journalism buddies! Moons and stars, we can go on so many writing adventures now! If you want to.

You should see the scrolls going around other kingdoms. The rumors just get crazier and crazier. One said you guys were secretly in league with Darkstalker. And it seems like some NightWings actually believed it! Some dragons will write anything.

I guess gave up my own journalistic integrity too, though, back when I lied to protect Icicle. Honestly, I never thought I'd do that, but times have changed, and we've all gotta shed some old scales.

This revolution thing is getting pretty messy. Let me know if you ever need to fly with a friend.

Your reporter buddy,  
 _Fatespeaker_

* * *

**Letter: Boreal to Winter**

Winter,

It's been a while, hasn't it? I look back, and I'm shocked by how much things have changed.

I don't know if this letter will reach you in time. It might not reach you at all. But I pray by the stars and moons that it will. Because I need to explain.

My friends and I have formed a stronghold in the southern mountains. Some SandWings sent us supplies in secret. We've been organizing, training, planning. Common IceWings from all over the kingdom have joined us. We've got a good network going. We're working on change in the provinces.

Ours spies in the Palace have informed us that Snowfall is planning to send generals and troops down to the Southern Castle, Queen Glacier's old base from the SandWing War. You know how many weapons are stockpiled there, not to mention the magical artifacts. And the location is crucial. Both Sanctuary and our base will be dead meat if she launches an attack from that place with that arsenal.

We can't let that happen. We will do what we have to do. I have done things I regret, but not this. This is the only way.

You're going to hear things about us soon. Horrible things. None of it is true.

Trust me.

_Boreal_

* * *

**Excerpt: From the _Sanctuary Gazette_**

VIOLENCE IN THE ICEWING PROVINCES... IS SANCTUARY NEXT?

Shocking news from the Ice Kingdom! Rebel IceWings have seized a royal palace.

As of last week, the Southern IceWing Castle, formerly an exclusive domain of First Circle nobles, is under the control of peasant revolutionaries. Unlike the Royal IceWing Palace, the current seat of the IceWing monarchy, this ancient castle primarily served as a military base. Some sources say it dates back to the "Age of Magic" before Queen Diamond.

Reports from the Ice Kingdom claim that a rebel army attacked from the mountains, where countless peasants have been recruited to their cause. Up to two hundred IceWing commoners may have been involved in the battle.

In addition to the castle guards, several innocent nobles were also cornered inside and slaughtered. Some say that the severed heads and wings of these First Circle IceWings were paraded through the local town in a sick victory celebration.

"It was atrocious," said an alleged witness, "a mockery of our noble funeral rites. The night was complete chaos. Ice and guts everywhere. The hills of tundra grass are still blue with blood."

According to the IceWing Council's latest statements, the attack was an unprompted act of revolutionary rage. Many other tribes, such as the SeaWings and SkyWings, have expressed shock and disgust over this direct blow to the IceWing monarchy. The Talons of Peace and Winter Rose revolutionaries claim not to have been involved, but one can only wonder what bloody plans and deals went on behind the scenes...

* * *

**Letter: Moonwatcher to Winter**

Dear Winter,

We just got word about the attack in the Ice Kingdom. Everyone here at Jade Mountain is still shocked. We thought everything was going well. Even the rebel speakers we invited said they have no idea what's going on. Are you okay? Is Sanctuary still safe?

This is pretty serious, isn't it? I never really understood how bad things were for your tribe, not until I spoke to Chill and her friends. Now I see why everything is so broken. I want to help, but I'm not sure how.

I've been thinking a lot about that night in Sanctuary. You know what I'm writing about. Are you sure you want to keep it a secret? Then again, things are so messed up already. This might just make more dragons mad. I don't want to cause another battle. And would the IceWings even believe me?

It's up to you, Winter. I've got your back this time.

Your friend,  
 _Moon_

* * *

**Letter: Winter to Moonwatcher**

Dear Moon,

We are all right. There was some unrest after the siege, but mostly, everyone was confused. Nautilus and Chill have publicly condemned it, but I've seen rebels celebrating all week.

Nobody knows what to say or do, or how to feel about it. It _is_ our first real victory. If only it hadn't been so bloody.

I thought I knew Boreal. I thought we were all on the same page. Perhaps she _was_ doing the right thing. Three moons, every report I hear is completely different from the last. Who knows what really went down over there? Snowfall definitely isn't telling the true story. I don't know if Boreal is, either.

I haven't told anyone about _that_ night yet. Like you said, it might do more harm than good. So many dragons already suspect us of being part of some sort of crazy "NightWing conspiracy", and I think this would just make everything worse. The last thing I want to do is put you, or any other NightWings, in danger because of my own tribe's revolution.

Thanks for trusting me, Moon. It really means a lot.

Your friend,  
 _Winter_

* * *

**Excerpt: From Queen Snowfall's Address to the Ice Kingdom**

IceWings!

By ancient right, by the ice and snow in my blood, I am called to lead this tribe. To rule rightly and fairly. I see your pain and sorrow, and seek to mend these recent wounds.

Through this storm of rage and rebellion, our circles have stood solid, our laws have stayed strong. And on my royal blood, I swear that they always will.

But some things must change, as the winds shift. Like any true queen, I will do what I must for my kingdom.

Many subjects have been arrested for their writing, which was rightfully dubbed dangerous to our tribe. But as the winter solstice approaches, some debate must be allowed.

These writers will be freed. Their scrolls are now welcome.

Many commoners have expressed anger over their lack of representation. They have asked that circleless IceWings be included in the upcoming Conference.

These dragons will be allowed elect seven representatives, just as each circle will elect seven. They will be welcomed in the IceWing Palace.

The Conference of Circles will do no harm to our ancient way of life. Far from it. I will ensure that the sorrows of my subjects are addressed and that the traditions of our tribe remain frozen in place. This kingdom, circles and all, will emerge stronger than ever.

As Queen of the IceWings, I will lead my tribe into this new chapter of our history. We will fly on as we always have, with ranks, with order, with honor.

Never forget your duties as IceWings. Never forget your place.

* * *

**Letter: Winter to Lynx**

Dear Lynx,

We just heard about Snowfall's speech. I _want_ to believe it, but the cynical old First Circler in me says this has to be a trick. Is she seriously going through with it?

Three moons, things must be wild there in the Palace.

Hang in there, Lynx. We really need you. I need you. Don't die.

Yours,  
 _Winter_

* * *

**Letter: Lynx to Winter**

Dear Winter,

It's true. Snowfall has freed the press and allowed the commoners to speak at the Conference. Some are even saying she might pardon the rebels and invite them back.

I know we should be celebrating. This is exactly what we hoped for. But you're right, something seems off.

The thing is, Snowfall has the power to take back that castle. You've seen all the magic and weapons and fanatic devotion she has behind her. And she's never shown a shred of sympathy for any of the rebels. Why is she backing down now?

I don't know who to trust anymore. I thought I had allies on the Council, but none of them warned me about this. Are they in on some plan? More guards then ever want to join the cause, but I can't tell if they're honest or not. What if they're all spies?

And _what_ in all the ice and snow is Boreal doing? Does she seriously think Snowfall is going to listen to her now? Did she warn you about this?

I don't know what to do. It's like I'm trying to pick up all these pieces, but they just don't fit together. I can't put my talon on it. None of it makes sense.

Well, none of it except for you. I miss you, Winter. Please stay safe. Don't die.

Yours,  
 _Lynx_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fatespeaker here! The person this time (unless... ;D).
> 
> This story ended up a lot longer than I thought it would be, and I'm honestly really happy with how it turned out. I've been focused on Winter for so long, it was really fun to finally write about the rest of his dysfunctional family. I hope it was just as fun to read!
> 
> I usually don't get personal on here (gotta keep up the illusion of being Fatespeaker lol), but one part of this story is particularly close to my heart. While I have not started any revolutions or turned into a SkyWing (yet), I am currently in the closet to my family. Hailstorm's storyline in this AU is slightly based on my own experiences.
> 
> Hailstorm's awkward conversation with Winter was inspired something that happened between me and my sister a few years ago. It wasn't the "out and proud" moment a lot of coming out stories focus on, but it gave me hope, and somehow it ended up in my random Wings of Fire fanfic.
> 
> I also just really like Hailstorm, who I think was criminally underused in the canon series (come on, Tui, he has the BEST backstory!), so I'm definitely gonna write another one-shot about him one day. I'd also really like to write from Icicle's perspective again, though my current goal is to wrap up this Revolution AU with one more multi-chapter fanfic.
> 
> My next long fic, Rebel Prince, will focus on Winter again. I might make it a bit more "experimental" by adding more of those excerpts and letters, which I've always really enjoyed. The Ice Kingdom's got a big storm coming, and I've got oodles of dragon drama planned out already... but no spoilers! I think Moon's prophecy gave enough away already.
> 
> Thank you all so much for the support and reviews! You guys are the best.


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